The All Around Guy
by Bearit
Summary: We know of the living, but what of the dead? With unfulfilled wishes and yearnings to be with the ones they love, behold: the ghosts of the Nadesico.
1. Part One: The Dead Pilot

Warnings: Spoilers for entire series, dead people, semi-original characters, and poking fun at Gekigangar 3

_Warnings__: Spoilers for entire series, dead people, semi-original characters, and poking fun at Gekigangar 3. Typical Nadesico stuff. Probably a tad more angsty than series. Also note: SERIES; the movie has no part in this. I also apologize in advance if there are any elements or plot stuff in this fic that have shown up in other fics; the fics were so good that certain aspects of it blended into my beliefs of Nadesico. Damn fanon anyhow, right? :P _

The All Around Guy:  
The Dead Pilot

Starting from the beginning is oftentimes the best idea, but I'm a little shaky on what happened those two years ago, a good, well, week before I finally met him. I guess I could compensate for a week somehow because although we didn't actually meet each other until a week after he died, I knew that he must have been a pilot aboard the _Nadesico_ because of his red suit. I knew who he was--or rather, simply what he looked like--ever since the first time I saw the interior the ship, but I didn't realize that he was dead until the _Nadesico_'s funeral campaign.

But I do know a little bit about what had happened during that entire day before I came to know him. Wait, saying that he was dead for a day before I knew him is an exaggeration. I think he was dead for a good five or six hours before I first came face-to-face with him.

Compensating for a week would have been difficult. I'm glad that I knew him before I met him during that week. Creating a story out of the little knowledge I have of his past and the great knowledge I have of his personality to describe what happened to him during the time from when he died to when we actually met is much easier. Very, very, very much easier.

Well, to start off with, I'm sure he must have been greatly confused as to what was going on when he first awoke to his death. Everything that he did, everything that he touched had no effect on anything on the ship. He couldn't get anywhere since none of the doors would open for him, he couldn't strike up a conversation with anybody because nobody could hear him (though, I wonder from time to time if that was anything abnormal), and he couldn't control the Aestivalis because the computer on the mecha would not respond to his IFS, but that was something he didn't realize until I came on board the ship.

He knew that he was dead. He just never accepted it. In fact, he kept throwing fits at people for ignoring him--or, rather, he kept throwing fits at Tenkawa-kun for ignoring him since his spirit was so attached to the boy. Or rather, the boy was so attached to his spirit. That's a long story. I'll get to it soon. He would throw fits at every single machine on the _Nadesico_ for countermanding his orders, and he even threw a fit at the men moving his stuff out of the room he once shared with Tenkawa-kun. When he realized that he was dead, I'm sure he whined and whined about not being able to do the "ghostly" things, like go through walls and stuff like that. Yeah, if I know him at all, he would have done that.

I think the temper tantrums before I came on the ship ended when he "met" Hikaru. I think by then he was just too stunned by her cheerfulness and perhaps even her love for the same anime show that he worshipped (I am NOT exaggerating) to resume his bad mood.

And that is when I come into play.

See how I just skimmed over everything? I don't know what Tenkawa-kun did after he died, so I can't give the all the details as to what I think happened. One, that would take too long; I might end up pulling a Fressange-san and give full in-depth explanation as to why I think that happened based on his personality alone. Two, well, I'm conceited, and I want to get to the part about me as quickly as possible and actually tell a freaking story.

That might be important, no?

My first glimpse of him was in the Aestivalis hangar, where all three pilots introduced themselves to everybody present. Er, well, Ryoko introduced Izumi-chan, but really, is that the point? Tenkawa-kun, the Captain, and some other bridge members and mechanics were there to witness it. Over the years, I've forgotten who was there that first time.

I'm getting off the topic here. Gee, thanks a lot, Gai Daigoji, for turning me into a digressing maniac!

Anyway, I didn't have a first impression of anybody in the hangar. I think it was the initial crew members who had the first impression of Izumi-chan, Ryoko, and Hikaru. Besides, I was way too busy feeling somehow embarrassed with how Izumi-chan was acting in front of them. Gai said it best:

"At first, I thought she was just plain insane, but as I got to know her..."

We'll get to the rest of that sentence later.

Okay, I admit that it's completely my fault Izumi-chan turned out the way she had, but what could I have done? Nobody would listen or even look at me if I apologized for her, but in most cases, Ryoko spoke the exact words I want to say when concerning Izumi-chan to the crowd of strangers. That day in the hangar was NOT one of them. She just sighed and turned to everyone and said:

"That's Izumi Maki. You'll learn more about her later."

The look on everybody's faces was almost identical: disbelief. They wondered what kind of new pilots they were stuck with, and considering that their other two pilots were a cook who had no desire to fight and a deceased man just a tad too obsessed with an anime show, life can never be normal on "The Ship of Fools".

I think that's what Ruri-san once said. I could be wrong, but she always did go around calling everybody "baka".

I don't blame her one bit.

But the look that Gai gave to the three girls was more relieved than anything else. Relieved in the exasperated sense; he was glad that he had died before he could have met them, but did I know that at first?

Of course not. I'm not a genius or anything.

But my attention had been caught, and I continued to be curious about this man with the strange hair-do. He was very peculiar, but no suspicions arose from me until a moment later in the elevator when one of the girls asked the Captain:

"What about the other two pilots that you had?"

"One of them passed away very recently," the Captain answered softly. She turned her head toward Tenkawa-kun. "And this is the other one."

I frowned and looked at the two boys. Tenkawa-kun was not dressed like a pilot, but Gai was. If that was the case... but maybe the Captain meant Gai when she nodded towards the two of them, so I didn't question, not until Hikaru decided to inspect Tenkawa-kun.

"Really?" she asked, and Tenkawa-kun backed down sheepishly.

"Well, I'm actually a cook..."

"I knew it! You didn't look like a pilot!"

Then what was with the other man in the pilot suit, I wondered. The elevator stopped at a floor, and Tenkawa-kun hurried to get out. "That's right! I'm a cook! I'm only just a temporary pilot!" he yelled as the elevator doors closed.

"Strange kid," Ryoko muttered.

Like I did with most of Ryoko's statements, I heartily agreed. Later I was about to find that nobody, nobody on this entire ship at all could classify as "normal". I almost wished I had known that beforehand, but what difference would it have made in the end?

"So, what happened to your other pilot?" Ryoko continued. "Died in battle?"

The Captain shook her head, and Gai seemed to listen intently. "He was shot last night in the hangar--"

"WHAT?" Gai gasped with his face horror-stricken. I still had my pride and dignity, and I was not about to make a fool of myself just to see if he really was dead, so I just stared at him, drowning the rest of the Captain's explanation out.

I wouldn't find out the rest of the story until nearly a year later.

The elevator stopped again, and everybody but Gai walked off of it. I followed them, deciding that whether or not he was alive, I should just let him go about his own business.

Meanwhile, the Captain showed Izumi-chan, Ryoko, and Hikaru their rooms and told them that they could get refreshed before they had to go out and recover the last Aestivalis and search for any survivors on the colony. I knew that the girls would need their privacy while they did so, so I followed the Captain's little group out. I didn't follow them back to the bridge for I had my duty, so I just waited outside of the girls' room patiently, my mind on the strange man in the pilot suit and the cook.

A cook who was also a pilot?

I didn't believe it, so for a good hour I tried to convince myself that the Captain meant the other man in the elevator. So while I discovered that Gai was a dead man wandering the ship during the funerals only a couple of days later, I had my suspicions for much longer.

I think I might have exaggerated with the whole "week" thing. It was more than two years ago; how am I supposed to remember all of the little details like that?

It took two hours for Izumi-chan, Ryoko, and Hikaru to get freshened up, and when they finally came out, chatting about what had happened on the Satsuki Midori 2 colony, I followed them to the hangar. My mind wandered to subjects that were neither on the colony nor Gai, but to other things. Trite stuff, if you will.

When we reached the hangar, the girls separated to go into their Aestivalis. As normal, I followed Izumi-chan to the blue robot, but Gai had been in the hangar. Seeing the three getting ready to take off into space turned him into an overexcited, obnoxious boy, so any and all suspicions that he was dead flew out the window in that instant. He must be alive, I figured. I shrugged it off and hopped into Izumi-chan's Aestivalis, only to find that he went into the spare mecha that Ryoko brought over.

Pilot or no pilot, there was no way he'd be able to maneuver it so quickly! Izumi-chan, Ryoko, and Hikaru were among the best pilots that Earth could offer, and it took them at least a week to get a hang of the Zero-G frame.

I decided that I didn't care if I was dead or not and nobody could hear me. I needed to vent, so I did.

"OI! Idiot!" I yelled. "You need training on that goddamned thing first!"

"It's fine! Besides, that's what I came in here to do--" he responded just as Izumi-chan closed the hatch for her Aestivalis.

I sat in Izumi-chan's cockpit, stunned. He heard me. He, a man I barely knew and up until a minute before he retaliated my outbursts, heard me. Either he had supernatural powers that I always thought were nonexistent or he really was dead.

I chose that the former made more sense somehow. After all, I'm a wandering spirit, right? Anything could happen when you find yourself in that position.

It wasn't until that spare Aestivalis came flying through the hangar of Satsuki Midori 2 did I realize otherwise.

"Let me do something to help!"

The voice belonged to the cook: Tenkawa-kun.

I arched a brow as the Aestivalis slowed in front of us, and Tenkawa-kun's face came on the screen. Hadn't the other pilot been in there earlier? Upon closer inspection, I saw half of his face on the very left of the communicator.

That's when I became convinced.

The man in the red pilot suit really was the dead pilot the Captain had been talking about earlier.

But I couldn't think anything more of it since Ryoko kicked Tenkawa-kun out of the colony, and the other Aestivalis the girls were sent to get turned out to be infested with Jovian computers.

Since the only survivors from the destruction of the Satsuki Midori 2 colony were Izumi-chan, Ryoko, and Hikaru, massive funerals had to be held. On the second day of the funerals, I finally relocated and introduced myself to the other wandering spirit on the _Nadesico_.

"Sheesh, the Captain could show at least a little bit of sympathy to those who have died," he muttered when I first approached him. "It's not right, damn it."

"Yo," I said.

"Heh?" he looked up from the window he was staring at and met my eyes. "Who... are you?"

"Kenichi Hamaguchi," I said with a small smile. "The other spirit on this ship."

"You're dead, too?"

"To put in less than flattering terms, yes."

"How did you know that I was?"

"Many reasons," I replied. "Do you really want me to list them all?"

He stared at me for a while and then looked back out the window. "No, it's fine. It still hasn't sunk in yet that I'm dead. I think it's because I can't go through walls like all other ghosts are supposed to do. Can you?"

"Can I what?"

"Go through walls."

"Of course."

"So why can't I?"

I cringed and followed his gaze. "We'll figure it out within time. First things first: I need to call you something. What's your name?"

"Gai Daigoji," he said simply. For a brief moment, there was silence, and then he spoke, "Your name is Kenichi?"

"You can call me either that or Hamaguchi-sama," I said jokingly. It was an inside joke that haunted me for the rest of my afterlife. I always told myself to never use that as an introductory phrase ever again, but I'm an idiot. At this point, however, I didn't realize it, thanks to Gai's next question.

"Can I call you Ken?"

I blinked and looked at him quizzically. "Ken? Why do you want to call me Ken?"

Gai turned to me and smirked triumphantly, and I immediately regretted asking.

"Because Ken is the name of the best character of all time," he announced, raising a fist to the air. "Ken Tenkuu, of _Gekigangar 3_!"

I stared for a good ten seconds before I narrowed my eyes. I think an eyebrow might have twitched. "You want to name me after an ANIME character?"

Gai lowered his fist. "Haven't you ever seen _Gekigangar 3_?"

"I have," I replied. Hikaru was a big fan; of course I have, and I didn't particularly like what I saw.

Gai was completely oblivious, to say the least. "So what's the problem?"

"I don't WANT to be named after an ANIME character!" I snapped, and Gai recoiled. He sighed and pouted.

"You're no fun," he muttered as he turned to stare outside again.

It was either that I had no comment or I was too annoyed to say anything more to him, and it was probably likewise for him, for silence drifted our way for a good five minutes. It was perfect. Just utterly perfect. Sense the sarcasm? I searched for something to say to him, but after the small altercation we had just had, I was in no mood to associate with him. I still wonder to this day while I didn't just leave, but I no longer regret that I stayed.

And, you know, Hoshio might be right. I think it was my yearning for company that had me glued to the spot. I don't know. It sounds kind of outrageous to me; it's like something out of an anime. If there's one thing I've learned from the war against the Jovians, it's that life isn't an anime. Nothing is what it seems, nothing is as simple as one-two-three. Nothing is nearly as deep as people make it out to be. Everything is always one, big, complicated mess.

I digress. Again. Damn it.

I still really don't think that I was lonely enough to get any company I could get my hands on. I'm NEVER that desperate.

Back to the story, I guess.

It was Gai who restarted the conversation.

"So, I'm a ghost, right? Shouldn't I be able to go through walls?"

I sighed. "Are you obsessed with this or something?"

"Well, it's no use being a ghost if you can't do the things ghosts should be able to do," Gai said. "I'm not happy with being dead, but being a ghost is absolutely useless to me."

"First of all," I said, trying not to sound too annoyed but knowing all at the same time that I was failing, "we're not ghosts. Ghosts are mindless souls wandering the place where they died without a purpose. We're spirits. Though, considering what I know about you thus far, I think I might start considering you to be a ghost..."

His eyes flashed. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"Exactly what you think it means."

"You're accusing me of being mindless, aren't you?"

I hesitated.

"Yes," I stated simply. Gai twitched. "Besides, you haven't given me your purpose of being around on the _Nadesico_, and I take it you've died here, so I'm assuming that you're a ghost. No purpose, no reason, staying around the place where you've died... yes, you are a ghost indeed."

Gai pouted. "I did manage to get off this ship."

"Oh, when you MINDLESSLY boarded the Aestivalis and tried to follow Izumi-chan and her friends when you apparently couldn't even get the computer to listen to you?"

"I forgot that I was dead."

"Typical answer for a mindless soul."

"I am NOT a ghost!" Gai protested. "I can't even go through walls and stuff like that!"

I snickered. "Oh, NOW you say you aren't a ghost."

"You're accusing me of being mindless."

"You're not proving to me otherwise. And besides, just because you managed to get off the _Nadesico_ doesn't mean that you're a wandering spirit, guardian or otherwise, like me. What if it was just the normal thing you would do had you still been alive?"

Gai fell silent to this and turned away, his features melancholy. "Aren't ghosts... supposed to not know that they're dead? You call that mindless?"

I stared at him, for it was the first time since I first laid eyes on him that he displayed any sign of real intelligence. He had a point, and some of the myths about ghosts were actually true. Ghosts didn't know that they were dead. They couldn't go through walls; such a privilege is only restricted to Shinigami, and the powers were restricted to spirits like myself. We could only go through anything with a door, and if the door was locked, we had no access.

Another myth about ghosts is that they are transparent and that they can show themselves to anybody at any time. It's true, for the most part. Ghosts are transparent to mortals and immortals and those in-between, but the times that mortals can see them range anywhere from the anniversary of some important date in their lives to midnight. Spirits, however, are transparent only to mortals; to immortals and other spirits, we're quite solid. We can touch each other. And we can only show ourselves to the people we love either on the anniversary of our death or during Tanabata... or through other means that I didn't find out until about a couple of years later.

"You're right," I said with a defeated sigh. "It's not that the ghosts are completely mindless; they're just lost in time. I take it back. You really aren't a ghost, but I still think that you're an idiot."

"I don't think I'm liking you."

"All the more to prevent you from calling me 'Ken'."

Gai looked up at me, and I smiled as innocently as I could possibly muster. "Just for that..." he growled, and I realized my mistake.

"Damn it," I hissed. "Shouldn't have mentioned it, shouldn't have mentioned it, shouldn't have mentioned it..."

"So what's this about a purpose?" he asked, ignoring the opportunity to taunt. "You said that spirits, like you, have a purpose for being around still. What do you mean by that?"

"It's just what it means," I told him. "It's our reason for still being on the mortal plane. I can't help you discover what your purpose is; it's something you'll have to discover on your own."

"I see," he muttered, his eyes still poignant.

"Gai," I started, and then I paused. "It's okay if I call you that, right?"

"Better than Jiro."

"Eh?"

"Never mind. You can call me Gai."

I frowned but continued. "Anyway, Gai, I understand your frustrations about being dead. I really do. All spirits have it at first, but we get used to it within time. And there's nothing, NOTHING we can do to reverse the ways of fate."

He sighed. "Is there anything we can do to satisfy ourselves?"

"That's why we have our 'purposes'."

We didn't speak much more after that, since there was nothing more I could tell him and nothing more he wanted to ask at the moment. We went our separate ways for the night, and I would have been left pondering about his existence had it not been for my discovery upon returning to the three girls' room.

When I entered, there were a couple of packets of paper on the table. Izumi-chan was taking a shower, Ryoko was out of the room, and Hikaru, as usual, was drawing doujinshi. When I looked down at it, there was a rough sketch of two of the main characters from _Gekigangar 3_. Remembering what Gai wanted to call me at first, and what he was to call me for the rest of the time we were to know each other, I shuddered. Why did I have to run into a _Gekigangar_ fan who had the slightest possibility of being more obsessed than Hikaru?

I know, I know, the Jovians were worse, though I still question: if I had a choice between spending the rest of my afterlife with Gai or the Jovians, I'd choose the Jovians.

They aren't nearly as obnoxious.

I took a seat at the table. Since I had nothing better to do, I decided to read the bundle of papers, which turned out to be contracts. I had to remind myself that the _Nadesico_ was a civilian battleship, so there were hardly any military members onboard to abide by any standards. They needed a contract. I don't read contracts for I had never come across any in my life (I used to be in the United Earth Force's military), but boredom can bring out the worst of people.

I spent a good half an hour reading the contract before I came across something very interesting, but something that would also ruin MY purpose of sticking around on the mortal plane.

Luckily for me, at that time, Izumi-chan FINALLY came out of the bathroom. I needed to catch her attention, even if something like this wouldn't concern her as much as it would anybody else on the ship. Did they know that this was in the contract?

But there is no way for apparitions like myself to catch anyone's attention. It was neither the anniversary of my death nor was it Tanabata, but I never did say that there was something else spirits can do, did I?

It's a moment of turning into a poltergeist, but I really, really need to show Izumi-chan and her friends this.

I walked into her body to possess her mind.

_Reread the contract. A certain paragraph._

"Hm?" Izumi-chan looked to the table.

_Reread the contract. You missed something._

"What's wrong, Izumi-chan?" Hikaru asked.

"Instincts are telling me something," she said. "I think there was something we skipped over in the contract."

"Eh? You think so?"

Izumi-chan walked to the table and picked up the stack of papers.

_Second page. The second to the last paragraph. The smallest font on the page._

Izumi-chan's eyes scanned over to the requested section, and my job had been done. I moved out of her body and sat on Ryoko's bed. Izumi-chan widened her eyes.

"'While Nergal does not restrict associations between men and women, to insure public morality, employees must not do any more than hold hands'," she read. "What the..."

Hikaru looked up from her drawings and bounced to the table. "What?" she asked, picking up another copy of the contract.

It was then when Ryoko walked back into the room.

"Food's pretty good here," she said before Hikaru enlightened her on what the contract said.

The news spread like wildfire.

I smirked. My purpose had not been ruined because of the idiocy of Nergal.

It wasn't until the next day did the rallying and protesting began, and I stood with most of the crew of the _Nadesico_ on the bridge for the protest. It was actually just Uribatake and the pilots (the rest of the mechanics and those who opposed Nergal's regulations were in the hangar), but Tenkawa-kun and Gai were nowhere to be found. Well, Gai was dead, but I half-expected him to show up for whatever reason. How could the words not reach his ears? And Tenkawa-kun's too!

As I got to learn more and more about Tenkawa-kun, he couldn't have cared less even if he tried. He wasn't big on romance like most of the rest of the people on board.

When Megumi-san finally requested for the Captain to come to the bridge, it was only a matter of five minutes before she arrived. With her came a few other mechanics who either hadn't heard the news or just plain didn't care, Tenkawa-kun, Minato, and Gai. I came to the conclusion that he was following somebody in that crowd around. But it wasn't something neither of us were concerned with at the moment.

Gai came down with the Captain and immediately approached me.

"What the hell is going on?" he asked.

"We're protesting," I answered.

"I can SEE that--wait. 'We'?"

"'While Nergal does not restrict associations between men and women, to insure public morality, employees must not do any more than hold hands'," the Captain read. She looked at the protesters. "What is this?"

I smiled triumphantly, and the grin only grew wider as Gai asked:

"YOU started this, didn't you?"

"Of course," I answered, half-listening to the conversation that the protesters and the Captain were having.

"How?" Gai asked.

"I'm not inclined to tell you," I replied.

"Hey!"

I chuckled. Out of frustration, Gai gave up talking to me. It was either that, or Uribatake's outburst of "I AM young!" caught both of our attentions. As he began something like a poetry recital (it was really just an act of melodrama to make a point) about the how beautiful love is, Gai muttered under his breath, "I always knew he was flaky."

I turned to him, but I couldn't ask him anything for that was the precise moment that the Prospector showed up.

"It's that elevation that's the problem," he announced.

"YOU BASTARD!" Uribatake shouted as he pointed towards the two Nergal officials on top of the bridge.

I glared as angrily as Uribatake showed in his voice at the Prospector and Hory-san. THERE was the problem. I wondered for a brief moment if I could turn poltergeist just for revenge, but I don't think I should get Izumi-chan into trouble of that sort. While it would keep her out of danger, it would cut her off from the two people who were keeping her soul alive: Ryoko and Hikaru.

Eh, purpose or no purpose, I don't like Nergal's regulations at all. I, to this day, still can't believe that everybody skipped over that part.

Nergal is oppressive that way. Damn them.

"This makes me wonder," said Gai quietly next to me, "I wonder what other stuff was in the contract that I didn't read."

"You skimmed through it?" I asked.

Gai shook his head. "Err... no," he said sheepishly. "I was too hyped up about coming onboard this ship and piloting robots that I signed the contract immediately. I didn't read it. At all."

I stared at him for a good, long five seconds. "You really are an idiot, aren't you?"

Timing is of the essence in war. The ship shook violently, and many people on the bridge struggled to keep their balance, whether by themselves or with help. Others fell. Being spirits, Gai and I stood almost perfectly still, although we both flinched at the explosion.

"Shit," I muttered. "We're under attack."

"You think?" Gai snapped.

With the Captain's pleas, everybody went back to work, and I followed Izumi-chan, Ryoko, and Hikaru to the hangar. Tenkawa-kun and Gai trailed behind me. I shouted behind me to get Gai to stay put; there was nothing he could do, and his answered implied that I was being hypocritical.

"My situation is different!" I answered.

"How?!"

I had no intentions of telling him, and even if I wanted to, I had no time to as I jumped into Izumi-chan's Aestivalis just as she closed the hatch. I caught a glimpse of Gai climbing into Tenkawa-kun's before Tenkawa-kun even reached the foot of the robot. We took off, and the battle begun.

I'm no good at describing battles, so I won't go into much detail. The girls had their moment, although most of it was reserved for Izumi-chan. To Ryoko, Izumi-chan's speech was a disconcerting one, and Hikaru had no comment. To me, it was a bit of a revelation that all was not lost. I smiled and let Izumi-chan handle all of the piloting and the fighting, wondering in the back of my mind how Tenkawa-kun and Gai were doing.

I didn't have to wait too long to find out. Tenkawa-kun's Aestivalis came flying past the girls after they realized that the Jovians were using distortion fields. He tried to do something or the other; I couldn't pinpoint what it was, but Hikaru saw it as a kamikaze attack. When Izumi-chan connected to Tenkawa-kun's Aestivalis, I found my opportunity to scold Gai.

"You moron!" I growled, getting in front of Izumi-chan to talk to Gai. I could see him on Tenkawa-kun's right side clearly, and he scowled. "What the hell did you think you were doing, going out to battle the way you were?"

"I forgot!"

"Even after I reminded you?"

He fell silent, and Hikaru asked the other three living pilots for a plan on how to defeat the Jovians. There was a short moment of silence before Gai rolled his eyes and said something about "Akito's idiocy". He jumped into Tenkawa-kun--INTO Tenkawa-kun--and immediately Tenkawa-kun had an idea pop into his head.

The communication link between Tenkawa-kun's Aestivalis and Izumi-chan's was cut off, and, astounded, I watched at how Tenkawa-kun managed to destroy the Jovian battleship. Or rather, how Gai managed to destroy the Jovian battleship. Gai really was an ace pilot when he was alive; it wasn't just some random _Gekigangar 3_ fan. He was like Hikaru, except maybe even better.

At that moment, my respect for him grew.

He had helped Tenkawa-kun out a lot, too. Izumi-chan, Ryoko, and Hikaru no longer saw Tenkawa-kun as a deranged cook who piloted just because.

When we returned to the _Nadesico_, I approached Gai. While I was impressed with his and Tenkawa-kun's skill combined, wondering never stops a human being.

"Oi, Gai," I said as we met in front of Tenkawa-kun's Aestivalis. "How did you know how to do that?"

He looked puzzled. "How did I know how to do... what?"

"The poltergeist thing," I said. He blinked, and I mentally smacked myself. How was he supposed to know what the 'poltergeist thing' was? "Merging with a mortal's body. How did you do that?"

"What are you talking about?"

"Before that kid--" I pointed towards Tenkawa-kun over by the vending machines. "--destroyed the Jovian spacecraft, you jumped into his body. How did you do that?"

Gai shook his head. "I... don't exactly know. I think I forgot again that I was dead, and I hopped into his seat to take control of the Aestivalis. I really don't know how I did it."

"But... but..." I stuttered, unsure of what to say. How could Gai have instantly done something that I worked for two months to accomplish? "You couldn't have..."

The ship shook again. There was no news of an attack, so I suspected that we were entering Mars's atmosphere. The mortals either fell to the ground or held on to something to prevent themselves from doing so, but like earlier, Gai and I only jumped at the sudden turbulence. We adjusted quickly, but it was too hectic to say anything more to each other.

It wasn't hectic enough for my thoughts to go haywire, so I managed to recollect myself before we landed on the planet. By the time the shaking ended, I was able to proceed.

"Anyway, Gai," I said, "you merged with that boy's body, but you think it was because you forgot that you were dead?"

He nodded. "Yes, but can we drop it? The pilots are heading to the bridge, and I need to go with them."

"No, you don't!" I said, but sure enough, all four of the pilots were heading in that direction, so naturally, I followed. "Gah, fine, come on. We'll talk on the way."

"No, really, Ken," he said. "Drop it. It's no big deal."

"It IS a big deal!" I snapped. "And my name is Kenichi, not Ken!"

Gai sighed. "You're really worked up over this."

"It's because you don't know the basics of the spiritual plane," I said. "If you can't even get into closed rooms--'walking through walls'--then how did you manage to merge with his body? It took me a good couple of months to master that technique, and I even had a teacher."

"Spirits have teachers? Wow."

"It's the only way we can keep ourselves from being caught by the Shinigami," I told him. "And it's the only way we succeeded in our afterlife."

"Shinigami?"

"I'll tell you later," I said, and just then, a thought hit me. "You know, Gai, if you want to learn how to 'go through walls' and the like, I can teach you."

By then, we had reached the bridge. Gai stopped and turned, looking at me quizzically. "Teach me?"

"The Shinigami mean well, but they do get in the way of our purposes, especially for spirits like you who don't what their purpose on the mortal plane is yet," I informed him with a small grin. "We're safe in space since it's so vast that they don't want to set up a system there, but while Mars has a Shinigami system, it's a weak one. We still have to be careful though. You don't want to be caught, do you?"

"You need to explain more about the Shinigami to me," he said slowly.

"That's why I'm going to be your teacher."

Gai stared at me, controversy dancing in his eyes. He then sighed and smiled weakly. "I'll be able to go through walls when you're finished, right?"

I nodded, my grin growing wider. "Of course. But we have to do it now."

"That's fine."

"For your first lesson, you need to accept your death not in your mind, but in your heart. After your 'poltergeist' move, I think that step has already been reached..."

"He sure seems like an elaborate man."

I shake my head. "Oh, you have NO idea."

He hesitates for a second and then slowly says, "Kenichi..."

"Yeah?"

"Tell me your real feelings, how you really feel... be honest." He takes a deep breath, a little unsure of himself. "If Daigoji-san never died, do you think... do you think Minato would have fallen for him?"

I blink at him for a moment, but I understand his fears, his suspicions, his helplessness... I know exactly how he feels. I sigh.

"Tsukumo, he may have been a lot like you, almost like your clone, but like I already told you, he was the OBNOXIOUS version of you. If anything, Minato would have been annoyed by him. I surely was," I reassure him, deciding that for his sake to omit the last words of 'at first'.

He laughs.

"Besides, I'm not finished telling the story yet..."

_To be continued..._

**Bearit's Notes**: So here goes for my Nadesico three-parter! How do you guys like it so far? I love Gai way too much for my own good. Yes, the title is supposed to be a pun. I couldn't resist. Feedback welcome!

Footnotes:

(1) - Shinigami are dead souls who have a strong attachment to the living plane, but they live like they would have on Earth in Meifu, the land of the dead. They have something like a detective's job in which they investigate unnatural serial killings and/or deaths. They also bring dead people who haven't checked in the afterlife into Meifu. In short, a not-really-that-big-to-mention crossover with Yami no Matsuei.

(2) - Tanabata is a Japanese festival held on July 7th. There's a myth about two lovers being separated by the Milky Way, but you can look it up yourself if you really want to know the full story.


	2. Part Two: The Nauseating Character

Warnings: Spoilers for entire series, dead people, semi-original characters, and poking fun at Gekigangar 3

_Akito cringed sheepishly. "You don't have to watch it if you don't like it."_

_Nagare laughed. "Sorry." It didn't sound like he was. "But if you like anime so much, you should be glad that the _Nadesico_ is joining the military."_

_The man standing next to Nagare studied the screen for a moment, and under his breath, he murmured, "_Gekigangar 3_? What poor taste in anime."_

_Gai had just about enough. "What are you talking about? YOU'RE the one with the poor taste in anime!"_

_The man turned to Gai, his expression never changing. "Oh, you're dead, too?"_

_"Erk," Gai squeaked, blushing._

The All Around Guy 2:  
The Nauseating Character

At least, that's what Hoshio tells me how his first meeting with Gai went.

Anyway.

To recap everything that happened between the time that I started teaching Gai to the moment I met Hoshio, we made it to Mars, managed to rescue a survivor from the Jovian attacks on the planet: Fressange-san, lost Admiral Fukube, and made it back to the Moon. Eight months have passed since the _Nadesico_ left Earth, and Gai was already getting a hang to being a spirit. I taught him everything up to that we don't go through walls, we go through closed doors. I even told him everything I knew about the Shinigami, which wasn't much to tell. We obviously didn't get caught on Mars; like I said, the system was weak on that planet.

When we came back to the Moon, chaos was in store for us. To make a long story short, Tenkawa-kun freaked out in the middle of battle, and Gai's presence only made it worse. The crew of the _Nadesico_ was introduced to a new Aestivalis prototype and a new pilot, Nagare Akatsuki. Gai decided immediately that he didn't like him; I really had no opinion.

Of course, by the time I could form an opinion on Nagare-kun, Tenkawa-kun was lost in battle. Of course he didn't die--he's still alive now, isn't he? But he was literally lost. He strayed too far from the ship--to the dark side of the moon at that--and couldn't make it back on his own. Along with Tenkawa-kun was, no surprise, Gai.

When Izumi-chan and Ryoko and Hikaru (and Nagare-kun) returned to the _Nadesico_, I began to worry. When the Captain and Megumi-san decided to search for Tenkawa-kun, my concern elevated. Don't take me the wrong way. I knew they were capable women, but knowing the romantic situation among the two of them and Tenkawa-kun, I feared for the worst.

It was stupid of me to hope that Gai was all right, but I was doing exactly that. Oh, didn't I tell you that spirits can't survive long in a vacuum? Despite everything, we still need to breathe. Talk about irony.

However, with Aoi-san in charge, my worries simmered. He was focused on getting Tenkawa-kun and the girls back.

But I was still having an anxiety attack. Or something like it, anyway.

"You idiot, Gai," I muttered. "I'm sure you took control of Tenkawa-kun's Aestivalis again. Idiot."

"Gai? You mean Daigoji-san?"

I looked up and around the bridge to see who could have possibly said that. My eyes fell on a man, who looked a lot like Nagare-kun but with short hair, staring at me.

"Dai... goji-san?" I asked. "Daigoji-san... Gai Daigoji, yes! But... how can you see me and hear me? Dead, or do you just have--"

"Supernatural powers? No. I'm dead. I'm Hoshio Akatsuki."

"Akatsuki? Are you related to THAT Akatsuki--" I nodded my head towards the man with the long hair. "--by any chance?"

"I'm his older brother."

"Ah."

"Anyway, don't fret over Daigoji-san too much. He may be an idiot, but from what I can tell, he's great at fighting."

"You met him?"

"Before the five pilots went out. In Tenkawa-san's room."

I smiled. "You're right about Gai's piloting skills, but I told him not to flaunt it just because he can turn into a poltergeist and take control of Tenkawa-kun's mind just so he could fight."

"'Poltergeist'?"

"You know when you merge with a mortal's body? I just use 'poltergeist' for easier terminology."

"I see."

"By the way," I said, "I'm Kenichi Hamaguchi. You can call me Kenichi or Hamaguchi-sama."

"Hamaguchi-sama?"

"Er, yeah," I said with a laugh. Hoshio nodded. "But it's a joke. Call me Keni--"

Hoshio didn't hear me and consequently cut me off. "We seemed to have caught up to them."

"Really?" I asked, turning towards the front of the bridge and being met with a communication window with Tenkawa-kun and the Captain and Megumi-san.

"You seem elated," Hoshio said, amused.

"What's that supposed to mean?" I asked, but I caught a good glimpse of Gai that I didn't care for Hoshio's answer. "Hey, Gai, what the HELL were you--"

"Later," Gai answered, sounding as if 'later' would mean 'never'.

"What do you mean, 'la-'"

And then I got cut off. Again. That somehow always happens to me, and I don't know why.

"I found something I want to protect," Tenkawa-kun announced. "And that's Gai!"

There was a brief moment of silence.

Gai shrieked, "EH?"

Hoshio chuckled.

I was doing everything in my power to not burst out in laughter and tears.

But my amusement stopped just in time to see Gai's pained face as Tenkawa-kun went on to describe Gai... and furthermore how he died. Gai muttered something under his breath, but since it was a whisper, and since spirits' ears are normal mortal ears, I couldn't hear a thing.

I was a bit concerned, but by the time Tenkawa-kun came back onboard the _Nadesico_, I had forgotten for the time being. It was all Hoshio's doing; he started talking about how he and Gai first met and what he suspected happened back out there in space before Tenkawa-kun's Aestivalis went flying to the dark side of the moon. My anger returned, and when Gai returned to the bridge, the first thing I did was chew off his head.

"YOU!" I hissed. Gai just blinked at me innocently. "YOU went poltergeist, didn't you? YOU caused Tenkawa-kun to fly out into the middle of nowhere, didn't you?! YOU and your 'piloting skills'!"

"Er, well..."

"Didn't you?!"

He hesitated for a moment and then sighed heavily in defeat. "Yes."

I rolled my eyes, and I still wonder to this day what kept me so calm. Relatively speaking, of course. "You idiot," I said. "How many times have I told you to not use your piloting skills to help Tenkawa-kun unless it was necessary? How many times have I told you that just because you can do something, you shouldn't do it unless you really need to?"

"Many times, Ken," Gai said with a pained, weak smile. "But this time... I was too late. I tried to help him steer out of control, but it was too late."

I frowned. "What do you mean?"

Gai said nothing, but Hoshio is very good at everything he does.

"He didn't infest Tenkawa-san's soul," said Hoshio. "But he should have. He should have, but at the most opportune time, he panicked as well. By the time he finally realized he should have infested Tenkawa-san's soul, it was much too late."

"That's how it goes," Gai whispered.

"It's TRUE?!" I gaped. "It's TRUE?!"

Gai nodded.

"It can't be true! It's nothing at all like you to panic! I can't remember you ever panicking! And forgetting something like that--"

"I had a lot on my mind."

"IS THAT YOUR ONLY EXCUSE?!"

Remember when I first introduced myself to Gai? About me not remembering to never use the introductory joke phrase ever again but couldn't become reminded of it because of what Gai wanted to call me?

Yeah. Hoshio reminded me.

"Please, calm yourself, Hamaguchi-sama--"

"It's KENICHI."

Hoshio disregarded me and continued, "If you were there, you would probably understand. Don't be so harsh on Daigoji-san."

I growled at his ignorance, but at the same time, I was confused as to what he meant. "You mean if I was in Tenkawa-kun's cockpit, I would understand what he was going through?"

"No. If you lived Daigoji-san's life, you would understand."

I bit back my lip, the truth coming down on me. I really didn't know anything about Gai's past, and I still don't know much. I know some trite details, and details that were enough to get us through the hard times in his afterlife, but the guilt at the time overwhelmed me. But men are prideful, as you know, so I pouted and glared at Hoshio.

"How much do YOU know?" I demanded.

"Not much more than you," Hoshio lied. "Less, even."

"I wish you guys would quit talking about me like this," Gai muttered. "I AM standing right here, you know."

"Oh, sorry," I said quickly. "But what kind of things did you have on your mind?"

"Oh. Stuff."

I narrowed my eyes. "That doesn't help." Something clicked in my head just then, and for some odd reason, I decided to ask Gai about it. "You know, when Tenkawa-kun was talking about how he wanted to protect you and everything, he said something about your death, and you looked... regretful for some reason. What was that about?"

"He overrated me," said Gai. "It's that simple."

I might have looked concerned, for Hoshio placed a hand on my shoulder and said, "Just leave it be for now."

In response, I nodded, and Gai and I followed him down to the bottom floor where everybody else was congregating. Within time, two new figures entered. One was a young woman, short black hair... that was Erina Won. The other was a middle-aged man with a bowl haircut, wrinkly: Saadaki Munetake, the new admiral for the ship.

The crew gaped in disbelief. I hadn't known who he was at the time, so I arched a brow and wondered what was the big deal. I soon learned that he was "okama": he tried to fit in at first, but soon he turned into a shrieky officer who didn't understand the basics of the crew members onboard. I didn't feel inclined to like or trust him at all at first, and then I did trust him a little, but then I came to hate him. We'll get to that soon.

Hoshio knew who he was, of course. He would have been the chairman of Nergal if he hadn't died, and his younger brother took up the inheritance for the company. Admiral Munetake was part of the military, not Nergal, but both the United Earth Forces and Nergal cooperated with each other at one point. The one comment Hoshio made at that time was:

"Munetake? Couldn't they have found somebody more capable?"

I stole a glance at Gai, who was shooting daggers at Munetake through his eyes. I had never seen him so angry before, so I asked him what was wrong.

"He was the one who tried to stop us from going to Mars at first," Gai growled. "Is Nergal insane?"

"Oi, I missed a lot," I murmured, but I wasn't the only one. Izumi-chan, Ryoko, and Hikaru didn't know what to make out of Munetake either.

Well, such is that.

"Damn, well, I guess it won't be as bad," Gai finally muttered as he walked away from everybody. "I'll see you later then, Ken."

"Eh?" I asked as my head followed his direction. "Er, sure..." I turned to Hoshio. "Do you know about anything Gai just said?"

Hoshio nodded. "Yes, but I don't think now is the time--" He stopped just as everybody was dispersing to go do their own thing. "--well, what do you know? I guess now is a pretty good time."

I sighed. "It's not like they can hear us, Hoshio."

"You're right. We should probably get to a more comfortable place, though."

"A more comfortable place?"

"Somewhere where we won't be distracted by the mortals," Hoshio explained. "And someplace where we can sit down without the fear of someone sitting down on us."

I stared at him for a moment, wondering where on this ship we can find such a place. Hardly any room was ever desolate, especially with over two hundred crew members onboard, except for...

"Your brother's room?"

"He isn't planning on going back for a while," said Hoshio with a faint smile. "Shall we?"

I nodded and followed him to Nagare-kun's room, staying silent as we walked. It wasn't any business of mine to butt into Hoshio's private life before and after he died, and since he probably was dead for only a bit of a longer time than I had been, he had more experience. Besides, it's rude to ask how somebody died, and it was generally respected to not ask about each other's purposes.

When we reached Hoshio's little brother's room, the door was luckily unlocked. Hoshio reassured me that there were some things Nagare-kun had to attend to before he retired for the night, so we had plenty of time to chat.

So we did, starting with Munetake.

"What did Gai mean when he complained about Munetake stopping them from going to Mars at first?" I asked.

"Nergal wanted to check for any survivors on Mars," Hoshio explained. "The military wanted to protect Earth, and could care less about Mars. So, we launched the _Nadesico_ with her new crew, and they were off to go to the Red Planet.

"Or so we thought. The military tried to stop the _Nadesico_ for leaving at first, completely infringing on our agreements. Munetake, apparently, was a part of the operation. It failed, of course. Their operation."

"I take it Gai was alive at that time?"

"Yes, Daigoji-san was very much alive," said Hoshio. "I even knew when he died, but I was a bit surprised upon meeting him that he was still around on the ship. I expected that he would move on to Meifu or would have gotten reincarnated or even been somewhere else on the living plane. I didn't expect him to stay around on the _Nadesico_."

"We all have our own reasons," I said.

"That is true."

"Did anything else happen before the three female pilots come onboard? I came on when they did," I explained.

"The _Nadesico_ breached through the Big Barrier, with the help of the two pilots on the ship. I knew Daigoji-san was one of them, but I was a little surprised to hear about the cook, Tenkawa-san, being the other. A lot of things happened, Hamaguchi-sama," Hoshio said conclusively.

I twitched. "It's KENICHI, Hoshio, KENICHI."

"You don't seem to be curious as to how I know all of these things," Hoshio said, smiling. "You aren't asking."

"It's your private life."

"We're dead, Hamaguchi-sama. I have nothing to hide."

"It's KENICHI. And if you want me to know, why don't you just tell me? Or do you want me to ask?" Hoshio laughed, and I knew that he refused to have it any other way. "Okay, okay. How do you know all of these things, Great Akatsuki-san?"

That's when he told me about his family's position in Nergal, but nothing more. Meaning, I didn't get his purpose out of it or how he died, but I figured that something like that was still touchy for him to talk about.

I hazarded several guesses as to what Hoshio's purpose was, but I dared not to ask him.

Of course, Hoshio changed the subject at that point, so I guess even if I wanted to, I couldn't.

"You know why Daigoji-san was chosen as part of the crew of the _Nadesico_?" Hoshio asked. I shook my head. "He was the top pilot in his class. Actually, everybody was chosen because they were the best of the best, though I wondered how Tenkawa-san managed to get onboard without having to go through training of any sort."

"The top pilot..." I murmured. "Would you say that he was better than the three girls?"

"He was on the same level."

"Ah. You know," I continued thoughtfully, "I wonder how they would have gotten along with Gai if he never died..."

"Say," Hoshio mused mischievously. "Did you know that Gai Daigoji isn't even his real name?"

"Eh?"

Throughout the entire meeting where Munetake explained the rescue mission, Gai kept studying him intently. I was curious about his thoughts, but I wanted to stay out of the way of them so even the spirits could hear the briefing as well. It would be better, since we all somehow followed the pilots out into battle all of the time.

Later, in the lounge, when the four pilots and Uribatake were sitting around, I found my chance to talk to Gai. Since I hadn't seen him the night before, I decided to do a bit of teasing.

I couldn't keep myself from smirking when I addressed him, "Hey, Jiro, what is your problem with Admiral Munetake?"

Gai twitched. "Jiro?"

"Isn't that your real name? Jiro Yamada?"

"It's Gai Daigoji," he snarled.

I still wonder to this day what kept me from bursting out in laughter. "But Hoshio tells me differently--"

"What the hell does Akatsuki know?!"

"His brother is the chairman of Nergal... or have you forgotten? He knows everything."

"My name is GAI DAIGOJI."

That's when I broke into laughter. "Okay, okay. I just had to tease you about that for a moment." Gai glared at me. "But, really, what is your problem with the admiral?"

Gai turned away. "Munetake and his men were prisoners at one point onboard the ship."

I blinked. That was something Hoshio neglected to tell me, or did he not know either? "Really? When?"

"Ever since we defied the military's orders to hand over the _Nadesico_," he explained, "until right after we purged through the Big Barrier."

"Oh," I said. "That's it?"

"They escaped the night I died," he said. "I remembered when Won-san was talking to Akito. I was in the hangar... and I was shot... by one of Munetake's men as they escaped."

I raised my eyebrows. "Oh. I... I see."

That was when the Hoshio and Nagare-kun walked into the lounge. Nagare-kun asked for Tenkawa-kun, and Hoshio approached Gai and me with a soft smile.

"So, what have you two been up to?" he asked.

"Talking, being bored," I answered with a wave of my hand. "I just wish we'd hurry up and get to the Bering Strait already."

"Don't we all?" Hoshio answered. "Ah, Yamada-san, how have you been lately?"

Gai pounded on the table, the noise only audible to Hoshio and me. "Oi! How much do you know about my private life, you bastard?!"

"Up until the point when you died," Hoshio answered innocently. "You know, that hot chocolate smells delicious. I hadn't had any in about ten years or so..."

"Don't ignore me!"

"Up until the point when he died?" I asked. "So... you knew how he died?"

"Shot in the hangar by Munetake's men? Of course. The report came not only to the military but to Nergal as well," Hoshio explained. "Of course I knew."

"So why didn't you tell me?"

"You never asked."

I fell silent to that, and Gai continued to boil with rage.

From that moment on, I always continued to become very amused by Gai's outbursts towards Hoshio and Hoshio reacting only very calmly to them. I had never felt the urge to break the two up.

Except during that first time, I found myself lost in thought.

Why was Gai still on the _Nadesico_? Why did he start to act so strangely when Munetake first came onboard?

Did Munetake have something to do with his 'purpose'?

Of course, I dared not to ask, because if Gai knew what his purpose was, he would go about it in his own way. The problem was that I didn't know that he didn't know what his purpose was, and that I was soon to be a key in helping him discover it.

Believe it or not, when Christmastime rolled around, everybody's lives were all of a sudden busy. For the first couple of hours of the day, Hoshio had gone off to do his own thing (his brother was holding a Christmas party, and for some reason I guess Hoshio wanted to be there), and Gai wandered the ship for a while. I stayed with Tenkawa-kun for a while, and that was when I found something else to tease Gai about.

Yeah, for the entire few months I counterattacked Gai's calling me 'Ken' with my calling him 'Jiro'. It was to be an argument we would share until after he disappeared for the, er, second to last time.

And I mean no offense by this anecdote. Just as a forewarning.

I found him in the cafeteria with the gathering of the cooks and the pilots and the Captain, idly listening to their conversation. With a smirk, I approached him, deciding to be subtly sly with my approach.

"Hey, Gai!" I said with a wave. He looked at me and grinned weakly, nodding in response. "Guess what I was doing in Tenkawa-kun's room."

He blinked. "Eh?"

"Guess."

"I'm afraid to ask, much less guess," he said, glaring at me. "You came on with Ryoko, Izumi, and Hikaru, didn't you? You were close friends with them, weren't you? You've been hanging out too much with Hikaru and--"

I knew exactly what he meant, and my amusement was slowly wearing away. "It's nothing at ALL perverted like that, you moron." With that, I promptly punched him in the jaw. He whimpered and muttered obscenities. I sighed. "I watched about five or six episodes of _Gekigangar_."

Gai piped up. "Really? What did you think of it?"

"Well..." I started hesitantly, mischievously. "I do happen to agree with you. I do fit the part of Ken remarkably well."

"Oh?" Gai asked, arching a brow.

I nodded. "Actually, all three of us have designated parts. I'm Ken, Hoshio is Tetsuo, and you... are Akira."

Gai twitched. "What. Was. That?"

I smirked. "Come on, Akira is rather obnoxious, which... explains most of your personality. He has a bit of an obsessive side, like you. He can be serious every once in a while, but other than that..."

"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU TRYING TO PULL HERE?!" Gai snapped. It's amazing how I didn't react accordingly. I think Hoshio was starting to rub off on me at that point, for I stayed in the same place, smiling calmly and coolly.

"What would I be trying to pull?" I asked, and from the corner of my eye, I saw Hoshio approach us. Finally. "Oh, Hoshio! Merry Christmas!"

"Merry Christmas to you, too, Hamaguchi-sama!" Hoshio replied. "And you, Daigoji-san."

"Merry Christmas," Gai muttered, very much annoyed.

Hoshio blinked. "What's wrong with him?"

"Oh, I don't think he likes me watching _Gekigangar_," I explained. "I just got out of Tenkawa-kun's room, and I saw a few episodes of it."

"It's a horrible anime. Why were you watching it?" Hoshio asked.

"To tease him."

"Ah."

"And you two are supposedly my friends?!" Gai snapped. I laughed, waving a hand.

"Oh, but friends are supposed to do this," I said. "We're supposed to tease each other to no end, right, Hoshio?"

Hoshio arched a brow at Gai. "We're friends, Yamada-san?"

"BASTARD!"

"Ah, a Merry Christmas indeed," Hoshio said smugly. And so it continued: Gai screaming his head off and Hoshio counterattacking his every word without breaking a sweat.

I DID tell you that it happened all the time, right? And I DID tell you that I found it too amusing to break them up?

I thought so.

I stopped to think, though, as I studied them bicker back and forth between each other. I came to a conclusion, and decided that getting Gai too upset on Christmas probably wasn't a good idea. It was his first Christmas as a spirit, after all.

"I take it back," I announced. Gai and Hoshio stopped and looked at me, a question mark imprinted on their faces. "Gai, you know, you look more like Ken than you do anybody else... and the way you two act towards each other seems to be a lot like how Tetsuo and Ken are."

"But... you're not Akira?" Gai asked. He knew me all too well.

I shook my head. "Nope."

"Then who...?"

I chuckled. "I would be... Prince Akara!"

The response was how I expected it to be. Hoshio and Gai just looked at me, wide-eyed, for a good ten seconds before Gai said:

"I always knew you were evil."

Hoshio sighed. "Hamaguchi-sama has been corrupted by that anime."

I laughed. I couldn't remember the last time I had nearly that much fun.

The joy was short-lived, however. Tenkawa-kun was to be replaced by a professional pilot, for his will to go into battle was constantly unstable. Megumi-san wanted to go with him... and so did Gai.

"H-hey," I protested when he made the announcement. "What do you mean, you're going with him? Isn't your place here, on the _Nadesico_?"

Gai smiled wearily. "I have to make sure that Akito stays out of a fair amount of trouble."

"But--"

"It hurts to have to leave this place," said Gai as he looked around the bridge. "But... there isn't much left for me here. I have to go with him."

"But, Gai, wait--"

"Sayounara, Ken."

He left the bridge with Tenkawa-kun and Megumi-san. I was dumbfounded, and I suspect Hoshio was as well. Neither of us said anything until Gai was out of sight.

"We'll see him again," Hoshio murmured from behind me.

I wasn't ready to give up yet. I raced to Tenkawa-kun's room, and Hoshio called to me, trying to stop me for whatever weird reason he may have had. I chose to ignore him.

"Gai, wait a second!" I yelled as I caught up. Gai stopped, but he didn't turn around to look at me.

"Ken, don't try to stop me. I HAVE to go with him. It's not only a choice I made, but because I would feel... fulfilled if I did so. Maybe this is my purpose, having to keep Akito safe."

"Or maybe you just can't stand to be around your murderer," I said before I realized what I was saying. "You can't stand Admiral Munetake, and that's why you're getting off the ship. So you can be as far away from him as possible."

Gai glared at me. "What do you mean, Munetake is my murderer?"

"I-it just slipped," I said. "Don't mean anything about it... but he was there when your murderer killed you, right? I don't know why it came out that way--"

"Just stop it, Ken," Gai hissed, turning away from me. "I-I need to go. Thanks for everything."

"Gai, just hold it for a minute! Tenkawa-kun isn't leaving at this moment!"

"Shut up," he said. He quickened his pace, and I knew at that moment that I could not change his mind.

It was just a slip I made, but I would find later that it was an important one. I didn't believe that Munetake killed Gai until much, much later.

I took a deep breath and jogged to get in front of Gai. He stopped in mid-stride, glaring at me mercilessly.

"Gai..." I murmured. I sighed again, and then I embraced him. "Idiot. You had better take care of yourself. Don't do anything stupid, like getting caught by the Shinigami."

Gai didn't respond for a moment, but when he did, it was nothing out of malice. He returned the hug, and he reassured me with the words, "Thank you. I'll be careful for once."

"Forever, you moron."

Had I known that Hoshio was right, that it wasn't going to be the last time I would see Gai again, I wouldn't have acted so melodramatically. Throughout my many months of being dead, I hadn't allowed myself to get close to anyone. It would always just be a fleeting meeting, or a short-term relationship, or something like that. But Gai managed to break those barriers somehow, and I didn't want to lose him.

Of course, I didn't that time, but Hoshio would confirm this much: for the rest of the day, I was miserable.

It was definitely the worst Christmas in my entire existence.

I think I speak for everybody onboard the _Nadesico_ when I say that. Or most, anyway.

I sat in Izumi-chan's room, nothing on my mind but things that related to Gai. I wondered about how he died, everything that he probably did when he first found out that he was dead, how he lived before he died... and through that I was somehow able to come up with several conclusions for Gai's purpose of still being around that would relate to something that had happened so far. I can't remember them all anymore since I know his true purpose now, which wasn't even HIS purpose, but we'll get to that.

But the one that popped into my head the most frequently was: what if Gai wanted to get revenge on Munetake for taking part in his murder?

And what if he was going to use Tenkawa-kun to do that?

I played around on many of my hypotheses for a while until Hoshio popped into the room.

"Hamaguchi-sama--" he started frantically, and then he paused in front of me. He frowned and stared at me, repeating my name again, "Hamaguchi-sama..."

"Hm?" I asked, staring up at him.

"Why are you singing the theme song for _Gekigangar_?"

I blinked. What was he talking about? Sure, I was humming, but... "Eh? What do you mean? I wasn't singing the opening song for--oh." That's when it dawned on me. "Oh no. Oh _NO_."

I moaned and buried my face in my knees. I felt like a complete moron. That painstaking song...!

"Anyway, Hamaguchi-sama," Hoshio continued, "the pilots have to go into battle now."

"What?" I asked, looking up at him again.

He nodded. "Unless you had no reasons in the past to go out in battle, I suggest we go. But you could stay here if--"

"I'm coming," I said, standing up. "Let's go, let's go."

So that we would not miss the pilots when they took off, Hoshio and I ran to the hangar. We made it there in time to see the pilots climb into their Aestivalis when Hoshio placed a hand on my shoulder.

"Don't let it bother you," he said softly. I turned to him with a frown.

"What do you mean?"

"Daigoji-san WILL come back. The attachment Tenkawa-san and Daigoji-san both have on the _Nadesico_ is too strong."

I scowled and pulled away from Hoshio. "Would you just leave it be for now? If we don't hurry, those girls are going to launch without us!"

I jogged away and hopped into Izumi-chan's Aestivalis just before the hatch closed. I think that before I left, I might have heard Hoshio mutter something along the lines of, "Last I checked, my little brother wasn't a girl."

He made it into Nagare-kun's Aestivalis just in time, though.

Like I said, I'm no good at describing battles, but I'm sure you know this one pretty well. After all, it was your robot that came to Earth that day, wasn't it, Tsukumo? Well, we both know what happened, so it would be useless for me to describe it all, wouldn't it?

But that battle was important.

And you know what? About the style your mecha was in...

Argh, never mind.

In the midst of battle, Izumi-chan caught something from the corner of her eye and turned her full attention to that. "Hey, is that..." she began as she inspected closer.

I was irritated that she was letting her mind wander from the situation at hand, but I was also curious as to what it was that had ceased her attention. I looked, and there was Tenkawa-kun, running to the edge of a battered building with a silver metal briefcase under his arm. The pilots wondered what he was doing; I wondered where the hell was Gai.

I couldn't find him anywhere.

"That idiot!" I hissed. "He got caught!"

Japan has the best Shinigami system in the entire world, and I don't know how they do it, they always managed to locate and direct wandering spirits to the "correct" path. I was absolutely certain that Gai had gotten caught... until I noticed him frantically trying to catch up to Tenkawa-kun.

I sighed out of relief. "Scared me there for a moment," I muttered.

That feeling wouldn't last.

Tenkawa-kun threw the briefcase toward the, er, your friend's--Gen Ichiro?--mecha, and these blue jewels sprang out and attached to the bubble-shield Gen Ichiro had created. A warp hole, or something like it, tore through the air, and the robot and Tenkawa-kun flew through it.

I sat in the cockpit, astounded by what had just happened. I didn't snap out of it until Hoshio screamed out to me on the voice communicator:

"Hamaguchi-sama! Daigoji-san is--"

"Eh?" I turned to where Gai was standing... and he vanished. Not like Tenkawa-kun had, but rather, it was like he just faded out of existence.

I gasped.

When the Aestivalis returned to the _Nadesico_, everybody assumed that Tenkawa-kun was dead. You would think that with that in mind, it would have clicked that Gai's 'purpose' had nothing to do with Munetake, but like I said, I'm a complete moron. I thought that with Tenkawa-kun gone, Gai no longer had a purpose and just vanished because he might have tried to use Tenkawa-kun to get back at Munetake for his death. Or, if the worst came, Gai really HAD been caught by the Shinigami, and he had become a Shinigami himself.

Luckily, it wasn't the case.

Shortly thereafter, we learned that Tenkawa-kun--along with Gai--had "boson jumped" to the Moon of two weeks prior.

And Gai was with him.

The _Nadesico_ steamed towards the Moon to pick up Tenkawa-kun, and Hoshio could only gloat.

"I TOLD you that those two would be coming back."

I smiled. "Shut up."

On our journey to the Moon, a high security alert was called: there was an intruder in the ship. Hoshio and I were not entirely concerned with it; as long as Hoshio's brother and Izumi-chan were secure somewhere, we didn't have much to worry about. After all, they are alive and can take care of themselves; we were dead and couldn't save them from harm even if we did turn 'poltergeist'. So, Hoshio and I did the next best thing: walk around and talk.

"Hamaguchi-sama, I was just wondering--"

"Yeah?"

"Daigoji-san and you both have a pretty good idea what I'm still doing here on the living plane," he said slowly and hesitantly. "And we both are getting a clearer and clearer view as to what Daigoji-san's reason is..."

I sighed. "It's not that clear, Hoshio. At least not to me. If he is inclined to follow Tenkawa-kun around, and if his murderer is on this ship, wouldn't it make more sense if he was around to get revenge or something? But if he's following Tenkawa-kun around..."

"It could be both," said Hoshio. "But I digress. Neither Daigoji-san nor myself knows your reason for still being around on the living plane. I am not trying to get any answers out of you, but this isn't just a simple observation that I'm making. You said you came on with the three women pilots, did you not?"

"I did."

"That's all we know."

I sighed again. "That's all you need to know, Hoshio. You didn't need to tell me what your position in Nergal would have been or anything else of the sort. And you didn't need to tell me that you were related to--"

"You asked. I answered."

"Oh," I said, laughing uncertainly. "That's right."

"So, who were you closest to? It doesn't seem like you're related to any of the pilots, not by your last name, at least," said Hoshio. "You could be cousins, but..."

"I'm not related," I said.

"Who were you closest to, though? Subaru-san? Maki-san? Amano-san?" I didn't answer. "Hamaguchi-sama..."

"I wasn't related," I repeated. "But I would have been if circumstances... had been different. I was--no, I AM in love with one of them."

"But who...?"

"I would figure that you would know by now, what with all the battles we have been going into," I said with a smile. I looked ahead, and heading towards us were Megumi-san and Minato. They were pushing a laundry basket along.

"I'm sure they heard the security alert," Hoshio muttered.

I shrugged. "Let them be. Look, here comes Hory-san."

Just as we were about to pass them, a man hopped out of the laundry basket wielding a gun, pointed straight at Hory-san. Hoshio and I stopped dead in our tracks (pun not intended) and stared at him before he was pounced on by security guards.

"GAI?!"

"Daigoji-san?"

Now you have a pretty good idea as to what Gai looked like. He looked a whole lot like you, Tsukumo, which is why Hoshio and I mistook you for Gai at first despite his being dead and your being alive at the time. Yes, it was you we saw pop out of that laundry basket. Did you think otherwise?

I knew that you weren't Gai. I knew it, and I kept repeating to myself that you weren't, but that didn't stop me from trying to catch your attention.

Ah, yes, now you know the real reason why you weren't very comfortable in that room that day. Er, sorry about that.

During the entire time the rest of the crew inspected and interrogated you, I tried to grab your attention. I guess I might have been in denial of some sort, but I don't know what it was. Maybe I just couldn't believe that there was somebody else who had the same exact looks as Ken from _Gekigangar_, or maybe Hoshio was right. I did miss Gai profusely. But whatever it was, it propelled me to get you talking to me, not the mortals.

I even smacked you a couple of times, or rather, I tried to. My hand flew right through your head several times, and it made me even more frustrated. Before I could try for a third time, not that it would have helped anyway, Hoshio pulled me back and told me that you were not Gai.

I hissed at him, "I KNOW that!"

"Then why are you trying to grab that man's attention?"

"Because!" I protested. "Because! Because... I... don't... know. I don't know."

Hoshio sighed. "I thought you had more logic than that, Hamaguchi-sama. Maybe it's perhaps you miss Daigoji-san a lot?"

"I don't think it's anything like that. He only left just a couple of days ago," I growled. I caught a glimpse of you leaving the room with Nagare-kun, and I followed. "Come on."

"Wait, Hamaguchi-sama," Hoshio called as he grabbed my shoulder. I stopped and turned around angrily. "It's not Daigoji-san, but the intruder everybody was looking for. We're almost to the Moon; we'll see Daigoji-san then."

I pulled away. "Even so, I'm really curious about this guy."

I ran after you and Nagare-kun. I didn't care whether or not Hoshio followed, but he did eventually.

Remember what Nagare-kun said to you just as he was getting ready to shoot you?

"It would be better if everybody continued to believe that the Jovians are inhuman monsters," he said. "So inconvenient for you to show up now, just as everybody was getting all pumped up about the war."

I gaped. I didn't understand what he meant when he said that, but Hoshio told me right then and there a fraction of the truth.

"Hamaguchi-sama, the Jovians are really humans."

"What?" I asked as I turned to him. He looked away, not wanting to meet my eyes. I frowned. "Hoshio..."

"They're humans. Not lizards," he repeated spitefully.

"What?" I asked again, this time out of confusion. Hoshio was not acting like himself, and I was to find out why less than a couple of days later.

That's when Nagare-kun got knocked out by Minato and Megumi-san.

After you shot Aoi-san in the leg and ran off with the two girls, Hoshio and I just stood in the corridor. The only thing I could say after the hectic events was:

"Oh, goddammit"

When Tenkawa-kun finally came back onboard the _Nadesico_, I had been in the hangar, trying to get answers out of Hoshio for the truth about the Jovians before the _Hinagiku_ took off. My attention had briefly been diverted by the reappearance of Gai, but since everything was so frantic there was no time for sentiments. As Tenkawa-kun asked around for the news as to what was going on, Gai and I had a brief conversation.

"Oi, Gai!" I called, waving him over to the door of the _Hinagiku_.

Hoshio muttered as Gai ran towards us, "I don't think he needs to know."

Gai was the first one to speak. "Ken, the Jovians... they're human!"

I nodded as Hoshio widened his eyes. "I know," I answered.

Hoshio must have turned away, for Gai said to him, "What? Do you know something we don't, Hoshio?"

Tenkawa-kun rushed into the _Hinagiku_, and Hoshio shook his head as he slipped inside.

"Sorry, I can't explain everything right now," he said. "I have to go with my brother now..."

"Wait just a second there!" Gai yelled as he hopped in as the _Hinagiku_ ignited her engines. Before the ship could take off, I ran back to the interior of the ship before the doors locked. Like I said, spirits, ironically, need to breathe and can survive no better than humans could in a vacuum.

Besides, Izumi-chan was not going with Ryoko and Nagare-kun. I had to stay behind, for I couldn't stray too far from her.

Yes, Tsukumo, everybody on Earth thought you guys were lizard-like aliens at first. We never expected for the Jovians to be humans, and while that was a surprise for a few of us, the history of your people is what upset people--dead and not--the most.

I didn't have to wait for them to come back, though. Luckily. Or unluckily, however you want to see it. They had gone out to recapture you and bring back Megumi-san and Minato, but they failed in doing so, as you already know. You know, it's getting harder and harder to tell a story when I get to the parts about you and things that you already knew about.

Something happened onboard the _Hinagiku_, though, that left Gai and even Hoshio very upset. Apparently, you looked so much like Gai that everybody thought that you really were Gai.

Gai came off of the tiny diplomatic ship in a rampage. "How could they even THINK that I would do something like that?" he hissed. "Why would I fake my own death?!"

"What?" I asked as Gai walked past me, but stopped when his back was fully turned away from me. Hoshio approached me, a scowl on his face. "Hoshio, what--"

"The crew speaks ill of the dead," said Hoshio. Tenkawa-kun stormed past. "It seems as if Tenkawa-kun agrees as well."

"It's because he's the only one on this entire ship with any sense," Gai snarled. He sobered when he said, "And... he was there when I died... he knows better than anybody... that I really am dead." He turned to Hoshio and me and smiled weakly. "It is a good feeling to know that you've got a friend, especially when nobody else trusts you even after you've passed on."

I laughed a little. "That sounds like something out of an anime," I joked.

"Actually, it was a quote from _Gekigangar_," Gai informed me. My eyebrow twitched.

"Even in a time like this..." I growled.

Hoshio broke out into a jolly guffaw, and the tension was broken. Amazingly how laughter can stop anguish, even for a short while. He meant to laugh, of course; he really wasn't amused. But what can I say? There was so much going on and the stress was weighing heavily against even us spirits. I didn't think of it as anything odd, and I still don't. I smiled and let the two of them break away from their anger, hatred, and depression.

"Say, Hamaguchi-sama," said Hoshio. "You didn't go with us on the _Hinagiku_. So the person you were in love with has to be either Amano-san or Maki-san, right?"

"What?" Gai asked.

I smiled painfully softly. "Either one of the two, yes."

And Tsukumo, if you can't guess by now which one it is, you really aren't as smart as I give you credit for.

The tension was only relieved for a short while though. Somehow, somebody--and I'll bet my life savings that it was Ruri-san--hacked into someone's private chambers to get a conversation out to the entire crew of the _Nadesico_. It was a conversation with Erina Won-san, Munetake, and Hoshio's little brother Nagare-kun. To say the least, Hoshio looked very nervous during the entire conversation about the truth of the Jovians.

And he continued to be so even after the truth had completely been revealed.

Gai was able to read Hoshio quicker than I could turn to him to ask him what was wrong. Let's just say that Gai wasn't as upset over the truth of the Jovians as he was that Hoshio--and his brother--had kept the secret from everybody for so long.

This time, the argument was one-sided, violent, and anything but amusing.

Gai threw a punch at Hoshio. "You BASTARD!" he screamed. Hoshio fell backwards, his head hitting against the wall. If he wasn't already dead, it probably would have been fatal. "You KNEW! You knew, and you never told us?! You and your brother both!"

Hoshio said nothing and stood up with his face glaring at the ground. Gai continued.

"Even though we're dead... even though we can't tell the living the truth... as our friend you should have told us!" he snarled. "Friends don't keep any secrets from each other!"

It's funny how most people would be hypocritical when they say that, but Gai always made sure that he practiced what he preached. He kept nothing from us unless the timing wasn't right to tell, or if he just plain forgot.

"I... I am sorry," Hoshio managed to say.

Gai didn't accept it. "The highest ranking officers of the military... and important people of Nergal... all knew... and you were one of them!"

"Gai, quit it. Now," I said. He ignored me, and just as he raised a fist, I grabbed his wrist and made him look at me. "What is up with you? You don't seem to be the person who would strike anybody."

"I can't stand for people breaking the code of friendship," he said. "The golden rule: never keep secrets from them!"

I bit my lip. "He probably didn't tell us either for our own good or because it was not important at any given time he could have told us."

"You're defending him?"

"He is a friend, isn't he?"

Gai's scowl darkened. "Or maybe you knew as well and chose not to tell me. Wasn't HE the one who told you that the Jovians were human?"

"He told me when his little brother said something about it out loud and I happened to be there," I answered. "I didn't know about this. And I'm not redeeming the Jovians as good guys, nor am I calling them bad guys. They're just human. This is no movie or science fiction novel... this is no anime, Gai!"

"Hamaguchi-sama didn't know," Hoshio said quietly. "I apologize. I just thought... that if the rest of the crew didn't know, it would only harm the spirits if they knew. What would you have done if you had known the truth, Daigoji-san?"

Gai fell silent. "There's nothing I could have done," he admitted. "But... it's wrong to keep secrets from your friends... or maybe we really were never friends in the first place."

"Daigoji-san..."

"I need to think this over," said Gai as he pulled away from me. "And... I need to go... to think..."

Gai turned and walked away, leaving Hoshio and me behind. I turned to Hoshio to ask him why he looked so disturbed during the conversation, but he promptly shook his head and walked down another way.

I would have been a whole lot more concerned with the Jovians had it not been for the altercation between Gai and Hoshio.

But I think what really upset Gai the most, in the end, wasn't the fact that Hoshio knew something that we didn't and kept it secret from us, but because it was the first time in his entire life when he truly learned that there were two sides to every story.

_Gekigangar_ only showed one side of the story, and that was the way Gai always thought.

It was not only the Jovians who were corrupt, but I have to say, that was the day when Gai gave up _Gekigangar_ almost forever.

There would be one more time when he would revisit the show that had taught him his morals, raised him, and inspired him throughout his entire life.

Arguments between friends can never bring good results, especially if you are in the middle of it all.

Gai and Hoshio weren't on speaking terms.

They both had a lot to think about.

And I was terribly bored.

I hung around the recreation center, a place that was normally bustling with crew members. It kept me entertained for some portion of my day when both Gai and Hoshio were off during their own thing, but everybody was in counseling sessions with Fressange-san, so there were only a couple of mechanics in there. Guess what they were talking about?

The war. What else?

I didn't want to hear about it. So we were fighting humans. So I was killed by other humans. So this is just a normal war. So what? Those were my feelings. Then again, I had a lot more that I was worried about.

I got bored enough that I decided to see what everybody had to talk to Fressange-san about, but Gai walked into the room just as I stood from the table.

"Oh, Gai," I said. What was he doing here? "What's wrong?"

"Ken," he said as he approached me. "I need to talk to... somebody about this. And since you're one of my closest friends, well..."

I sighed. "I understand. Sit."

We both sat at the table. Three out of four of the chairs had already been pulled out, and Gai chose to sit in the one just across from me. We didn't speak for a while, and I let Gai have his time to think and gather his words together to create a coherent sentence. He sighed heavily, and then spoke.

"The admiral... Admiral Munetake..." Gai started slowly. "He's about to get demoted."

"What? How did you find out?"

"Ever since... you know... I had too much time to think, so I decided to, well, spy on him," he explained. "It was wrong of me, I know. Don't bug me about it. But I was curious. Remember back during Christmas? When I decided to leave this ship? Remember what you said to me?"

"I tried to convince you not to go, and when I saw that you couldn't be dissuaded, I told you--"

"About Munetake."

"Oh." I have to admit that I couldn't remember at the time, but Gai refreshed my memory for me.

"You said that I needed to get away from my murderer since I couldn't stand him. That was partially true. I couldn't stand him, but I didn't need to get away from him. And then... you said his name. Munetake. That's when my full memory returned about the night I died."

"Eh?"

"When I first realized that I was dead, I was in complete denial," he explained. "I didn't want to believe it, and at first, I hoped that I had been critically wounded in battle or something. The last thing I could remember up until that point was the battle Akito and I fought as the _Nadesico_ breached through the Big Barrier. And then the three girls came onboard.

"When the Captain told them that I was shot in the hangar the night before, I remembered some more. I remembered being in the hangar... er..." He blushed and coughed. "I was in the hangar. A group of men were running past, and a shot rang out, and I collapsed. I was knocked unconscious... indefinitely, as it would turn out.

"And then Won-san and Nagare became a part of the crew. When Won-san was talking to Akito, I remembered that Munetake and his men had been POWs, and they were the ones who escaped. It wasn't until Christmas when you made that 'slip' did I remember the details, the small and trite details that I would never have remembered if you hadn't suggested it.

"I saw his face. I didn't know what was to come, so I had no vow to remember it, and it was only for a split second, which is probably why I didn't know," Gai concluded. He smiled weakly. "Maybe this is my 'purpose', Ken. Maybe I am supposed to do something about Munetake. But... I can't help but to feel... somewhat sorry for him. You had to be there, Ken."

I frowned. "So you don't know what your purpose is?"

Gai shook his head. "I'm sorry if I gave you the impression that I did. How important are our purposes, anyway?"

"Not as important as you would think," I said, "but not as trivial as you would hope it to be."

He laughed. "So if I had truly died a hero's death... if I had died protecting the people I cared about... would I have not come back?"

"That depends on your purpose," I told him. "But... I do agree. If we had died how we wanted, where we wanted, and when we wanted, maybe... we would never have stayed around. I surely wouldn't. She would have had a promise to keep."

"What?"

I smiled. "I never told you how I died, did I? I had signed a draft form as soon as I graduated high school... I thought it was required or something. I didn't know that it was only required for Americans. Funny how everything works out. When the Jovians first attacked Mars, I was called into battle immediately. Even then, the military was focused on having its best fighters stay to defend the Earth.

"I was in the Second Battle of Mars. The only other battle after the first. The entire fleet was wiped out. I know I wouldn't have made a difference if I had been on the bridge firing away, and I would still be around even if I had been. I had a very high fever for about four days. The fifth day, I was getting better... and then a blast hit the ship I was assigned to. I wasn't exactly killed in battle, though my death certificate says so."

"But if that's the case, what are you doing on the _Nadesico_?" Gai asked. "Could it because you think you failed or... or... wait. Is it true, that you are in love with one of the three girls?"

I nodded. "It's because of her that I am on this ship."

Gai stared at me for a while. He then sighed and said, "You must really love her, if you're following her around like this and for so long."

I shook my head. "It's because my purpose hasn't been fulfilled yet."

Gai left to do some more thinking, and I was left pondering as well. Gai's purpose for being around on the mortal plane still always concerned me, and now that Gai was getting closer and closer to figuring it out, I figured that it was time to fit all of the pieces together.

I knew that I would miss Gai when he left, but I couldn't be selfish. As much as it hurt, I couldn't be selfish.

This was exactly what I was afraid of during death: getting too close and personal with someone. Becoming friends with somebody. Like Gai said, it was good to know that you had friends, but when you're dead, it's absolutely useless.

At the same time, though, I think it's the one thing everybody needs. A friend, no matter what the situation.

This isn't a good time to be getting philosophical and nostalgic. I apologize.

Gai suspected that his purpose was to do something about his murderer, Munetake. If that was the case, then my belief that he was going to use Tenkawa-kun to do that something had been irrationally confirmed. It wasn't true, just so you know. Gai had no desire to use Tenkawa-kun, it's just that Tenkawa-kun was the only person left alive for Gai to get attached to. I came to that conclusion just as I bumped into Hoshio in the hallway.

"Ha-hamaguchi-sama," Hoshio sputtered. "Sorry, I wasn't looking where--"

"You were," I said, smiling. "I wasn't paying attention. Lost in thought."

Hoshio's face cringed with discomfort. "The Jovians?"

I shook my head. "That's the last thing I'm worried about."

"I-I am sorry for never telling--"

"Don't be. You had your reasons."

"... and Daigoji-san?"

"He doesn't seem to be horribly upset with you at the moment, but that's only because he thinks he found his purpose," I explained. "He thinks he has to do something about Munetake, his murderer. I think there's something more. Revenge, perhaps? But I wonder why he followed Tenkawa-kun around instead of Munetake..."

Hoshio frowned. "Daigoji-san doesn't seem to be the type to seek for revenge. He's too much like the main character from _Gekigangar_. I haven't seen enough episodes to fully judge. I've only seen one or two. But... the main character refused to hold grudges for too long, in the episodes I've seen."

"I guess that makes better sense," I said with a sigh. "Gai said that he felt sorry for Munetake. He's about to get demoted."

Hoshio cringed. "I see."

I shook my head. "But I still wonder why Gai followed Tenkawa-kun around instead of Munetake... it's probably because they were so close."

"Daigoji-san was orphaned at a young age. His older brother and parents were killed in a car accident. I'm sure it only makes sense if he stuck around because he and Tenkawa-san were such close friends."

I blinked. "How much of Gai's personal life DO you know?"

"Too much," Hoshio said, smiling mournfully. "It's bored down at the Nergal headquarters, you know. I learned an extensive amount of information on Tenkawa-san and Daigoji-san before Nagare-kun decided to come onboard the _Nadesico_."

"Oh," I said.

"But... like I was saying, Daigoji-san doesn't seem to be the vengeful type. He's more righteous than anything else," Hoshio said. "I know how fans of _Gekigangar_ are. They believe in justice and freedom. Good always prevails. I used to think that it was absolutely nauseating, but I think it may be a part of Daigoji-san's purpose."

"You mean," I asked, "you think that Gai has to forgive Munetake?"

"I believe that it his purpose. He needs to find it within his heart to understand and forgive the admiral."

I smiled. "I guess step one has already been completed."

Hoshio seemed to be right. Only a couple of days later, Munetake seemed to have gone completely nuts. I never had a chance to talk to Gai about Hoshio's and my hypotheses about his purpose, but he figured it out for himself.

"Ken, um, well..." Gai started awkwardly. He refused to look at me. "I... I know what I have to do. I need to redeem him. I have to do it... I know enough about him now to do it."

"Gai..." I whispered. "I understand. It's your purpose, right?"

He nodded. "Thank you, Ken, for everything you have done for me.'

I smiled. "It's Kenichi, you dolt."

Gai laughed.

"Take care of yourself, Daigoji-san," said Hoshio as he approached. Gai stared at him, and Hoshio backed away a little. "I'm sorry--"

"Don't be. I am the one who has to apologize. I didn't understand, but..." Gai beamed. "I'm sorry, Hoshio, for everything I have done to you."

"Odd replacement of words," I noted softly.

Gai turned to face the both of us. "Thank you, both."

He turned and ran to the hangar, and Hoshio and I glanced at each other, a moment of mischief crossing both of our faces. Together, we turned back and yelled just as Gai was about to turn the corner.

"Take care, Jiro!"

"Make sure you stay healthy, Yamada-san!"

He stopped in mid-stride and glared at us, and we laughed and waved. Gai's features softened, and he ran off to catch up with Munetake.

In the end, if it wasn't for Gai, the Cosmos probably would have been destroyed.

But the mode of transportation that he chose to redeem Munetake...!!

"Of course, that wasn't going to be the last time I saw Gai," I conclude. "But I really don't think you would want to hear the next part..."

Tsukumo smiles weakly. "It's not a question of whether I want to hear it, Kenichi. It's a matter of whether you want to tell me it."

"It's full of angst," I warn. "I don't really care if I have to tell it or not, but if you want to get depressed... oh, wait. It's more full of romance than it is anything else."

"I won't mind."

"So you do want to hear it?"

"It would be nice to hear the rest of the story," says Tsukumo. "After all, forgiving his murderer wasn't his purpose on becoming a spirit, was it? If it wasn't the last time you would see Daigoji-san again?"

"You're right. He had a completely different reason all together... or, rather, his purpose wasn't exactly 'his' purpose. If it wasn't for Tenkawa-kun, Gai would have either been reincarnated or sent to Heaven immediately after he had died.

"It was the time that I learned that spirits do not need their own reason to stay around the mortal plane," I continue. "It was the first time that I felt full empathy for one of my closest friends. It was the also the time when... I realized that my 'purpose' would never get fulfilled..."

_To be continued..._

**Bearit's Notes**: One more installment to go, and this thing will be finished! Like always, feedback, positive and negative alike, is welcome!

Footnotes:

(1) - "Okama" means... I don't know what it means. My mother walked in on episode seventeen one day and saw Munetake freaking out over the Aestivalis Uribatake was making, and she promptly said, "He's okama!" (My mother is Japanese, by the way) I asked her what it meant, but she wouldn't tell me. I thought it was hilarious, though.

(2) - Meifu: the land of the dead.

(3) - "Sayounara" means "goodbye". It's actually a formal goodbye, and since Kenichi and Gai are friends and act and talk casual around each other, it turns into "Farewell" in this context. Oh, and it's NOT "sayonara". The "yo" sound is long. I know my Japanese. ;-)


	3. Part Three: The Righteous Man

Warnings: Spoilers for entire series, dead people, semi-original characters, and poking fun at Gekigangar 3

_Some Author's Notes__: Kenichi lied in the last part; it really is more full of darkness and angst than it is romance. Don't be too scared. And Kazama Itsuki (Seelie) fans, she's in this part. I hope you enjoy!_

The All Around Guy 3:  
The Righteous Man

When Tenkawa-kun returned with Ruri-san from Peaceland, I had, fortunately enough, been wandering around a bit. Izumi-chan, Ryoko, and Hikaru were off doing their own thing, leaving me with nothing better to do than to find something to do with Hoshio. Of course, Nagare-kun's room was locked, and Hoshio was in there as well, so I couldn't get to him and he couldn't get to me. Therefore, I was very, very bored.

Naturally, I was in the hangar.

I've come to hate Gai after a while. I mean, he only left just a week ago, but because of him, I was bored out of my mind. Before I met him, I was content at Izumi-chan and her friends' sides, enjoying their company although they didn't know that I was there. And then he came. And then I found more things to do besides watching over the three girls. And then my afterlife was made more interesting whenever I was with him. He may have been obnoxious, but I really enjoyed his friendship and his company.

I can't say that I missed him horribly. I thought his purpose had been fulfilled, and I was wondering what he was up to. Was he in Heaven? Or did he get reincarnated? Whichever it was, I hoped that he was enjoying himself.

I am still hoping that to this day. Reincarnation or afterlife? Which did he choose?

I hope he chose the afterlife. Perhaps then I can see him again, but knowing him, I probably never will ever come face-to-face with him any time within the next millennium. He, for sure, decided reincarnation.

Anyway, story. Back to the story.

So, my life was miserably boring. Hoshio only provided me intellectual conversations. It can get very tiring after a while. Fun doesn't. I wanted Gai back.

And as soon as I muttered those words, I indeed found Gai propped up against one of the hangar's walls, looking very drowsy.

I didn't know it was him at first. I thought he was somebody like you, Tsukumo. Nevertheless, it never hurt a dead person to check things out. If it was Gai, then he'd be able to see me, and if he wasn't, then anything I did probably wouldn't have any effect on him.

I cautiously approached him. As soon as I reached him, I placed a hand on his shoulder.

"Gai?" I asked softly.

He stared at me long and hard. His eyes drooped; he seemed to have had a hard time keeping them open.

"Ken...?" he answered. Before I could confirm that he was right, he slumped into my shoulder and fell unconscious.

I was utterly confused.

Had his purpose not been fulfilled... or were Hoshio and I completely wrong when we thought that forgiving Munetake was his purpose?

If you're wondering, yes, dead people can sleep and get exhausted. We still function normally. We need to breathe, sleep, stay healthy to some extent, and we can feel pain, but we don't need to eat, drink, or exercise. We can't gain weight or lose weight or get sick or bleed. That's the main difference between Shinigami bodies and spirit bodies. They can be seen by mortals, they can bleed (although all of their cuts heal almost instantaneously), they need a sufficient amount of food and drink every day, and they can get sick. They're just like mortals except that they're immortal.

Don't get on my case about oxymoron.

I couldn't find Hoshio anywhere on my way to the girls' room, so I hauled Gai there myself. I was going to have to talk to him later, since Hoshio was the brains. He always knew the answer no matter how long it took for him to come up with one. After all, it had been a puzzling time for me and Gai alike.

I overestimated Hoshio, of course, but he did come up with a conclusion much later.

I placed Gai on the closest bed to the door and let him rest. It was still early evening; none of the girls would have been returning for quite some time. I just sat and pondered by his side, wondering a few times whether or not I should seek out Hoshio and deciding not to for the mere prospect of Gai waking up before I returned. Who knows how he would be acting? Bewildered, scared, delusional? I didn't know, and I refused to take that chance. I needed to be at his side when he awoke.

I only had to wait for an hour. An hour isn't a long time when you're dead, so I hadn't had the chance to come up with any hypotheses. But I guess that was a good thing, too. Gai might have gotten upset if I "knew" that his purpose had been completely off.

"Ken?" Gai asked as he sat up, holding his head.

"You should lay down," I suggested. Gai shook his head.

"I'm fine," he said. "But I thought that ghosts weren't supposed to get drowsy like this?"

"We're not ghosts, Jiro, remember?"

"My name is Gai."

"And mine is Kenichi."

Gai glared at me, and I grinned as innocently as I could.

"Besides," I continued, looking away from him, "we're still like mortals in a way. We can grow fatigued. That's what happened to you, I'm sure. Though I don't know why."

"You don't know why I'm back?"

"If I knew, then I would know why you're so exhausted."

Gai sighed. "It's not easy having your spirit blown to smithereens," he said. "I think that explains some of it. I expected something to happen, like finding myself reborn or in a paradise. Not back on the _Nadesico_."

"I'm not sorry you're back," I told him, "but I do wonder why you're here as well. Perhaps your purpose wasn't to forgive Munetake?"

"You mean it probably had nothing to do with him?" Gai demanded, sounding upset.

"I'm not sure."

"Bastard."

"I thought you were only supposed to call Hoshio that?" Gai fell silent and muttered something under his breath that I couldn't catch, but I never asked him about it. He may have redeemed Hoshio at that moment, but I pressed on, so I wouldn't know. "Maybe you were right the first time."

I looked at him again, and he stared at me questioningly. "The... first time...?"

"Remember Christmas? When you left the ship with Tenkawa-kun? You said something about your purpose."

Understanding dawned in Gai's eyes. "Oh," he murmured. "I said that maybe my purpose was to keep him safe... you think that's it?"

I shrugged. "It could be. Don't take my word for it."

"It somehow doesn't seem right."

The door slid open then, and Izumi-chan walked into the room. Her face was not covered in depressed lunacy like it normally was, but instead, just solemn. She headed to the closet and grabbed some garments out of it, muttering something along the lines of "Need to take a shower."

I turned back to Gai, who had turned his head away with a slight blush on his cheeks. I had to laugh; most men from Earth would continue to stare. He really would have fit in well with the Jovians had he known the truth before he had died.

"What was your purpose?" Gai asked, staring at a book on the bed. "I know it's none of my business to know, but maybe it'll help me realize what mine is."

My previous amusement left immediately. I sighed and hesitated, not sure how I could put it.

"My purpose..." I started slowly. "My purpose... is something far more than to protect the woman I love. If that was the case, it wouldn't really be a purpose, and I wouldn't have to fear the Shinigami, for I would have been a guardian angel."

"Then why?"

The time was moving by quickly. It was now late evening, and Hikaru waltzed into the room (Izumi-chan was taking a shower by now) and sat on her bed... the closest bed to the door.

Gai had to scramble to get out of her way before she sat on him. Consequently, he fell to the floor.

I burst into a guffaw. "Yeah, you were too heavy, so I put you on Hikaru's bed..."

"Not Ryoko's?!"

"Hikaru's was closer," I answered as Gai hopped to his feet. "And how was I supposed to know that Hikaru would come back before Ryoko?"

"You're with the girls more than you are with anybody else on this ship!" Gai hissed.

"That doesn't mean I'm supposed to know every single detail about their lives," I replied. Gai glared at me, and I chuckled. "All right, all right. Let's go find Hoshio and figure this whole thing out."

It didn't take long to find Hoshio. He had, too, been wandering around the halls aimlessly since Nagare-kun had woken up to do his own thing. Convenience is quite a good thing when you're dead.

Hoshio had been very surprised at Gai's reappearance and looked to me for answers, but I could not provide him with any. I told him that we had been looking for him for some sort of explanation, since Hoshio was like the Fressange-san of the afterlife.

Hoshio laughed at that. "I'm not as good as her," he said. "And I don't have the answers to everything. Maybe Daigoji-san's purpose wasn't to do anything about Admiral Munetake?"

I shook my head. "We came up with that prospect already."

"If this is what keeps coming up, then it's probably right," Gai said. "It's enough, Ken. I have my answers."

"But," Hoshio continued, "it's been a week since then. It doesn't make any sense."

Gai blinked. "A week? It's been a week since Munetake died?"

Hoshio nodded, and Gai turned away with a frown.

"Then... maybe it had been a part of my purpose," Gai said.

"It could be that," Hoshio replied. "Or it could have been one of your purposes. If you were gone for a week before you returned, that's probably what happened. It was your purpose, but there is something holding you back from moving on."

"What could it be, though?" I asked. "It doesn't make any sense to me if it was a part of his purpose or one of his purposes. It has to be either it was or it wasn't, and from the looks of it, it wasn't."

"Life isn't an anime, Hamaguchi-sama, remember?" Hoshio said. "It's more complicated than just it is or it isn't."

"Something more..." Gai mused.

Before I could say anything more, a mechanic walked by and taped a poster onto the wall next to us. It caught my attention as well as Gai's and Hoshio's, so we stared at it as the mechanic walked away and posted the same thing only ten meters down. I raised an eyebrow at what the poster was advertising and didn't know what to think. Gai and Hoshio were the same way.

"A beauty contest?"

We... we really shouldn't have been distracted. We really shouldn't have. But we were. And it was horrible. Hoshio managed to come up with a reasonable excuse: we didn't know much about the reasoning behind everything, so until we found out more, we wouldn't think anything of it.

You know, if it wasn't for our distraction with the beauty contest (or the contest that would replace the Captain), Gai would never have found out my purpose.

Not that I regret telling him.

But still.

We had an interesting time watching the contestants showing off their talents and, er, bodies. It was the first time we laughed and enjoyed ourselves without a level of stress hanging down on us, for we were happy seeing the people we loved happy. Actually, Gai was only there because Hoshio and I were, but he kept disappearing on us only to return to us sometime later. He would, oftentimes, miss the best part of a girl's performance, since he was there at the beginning but not at the end.

He did manage to poke some fun at how differently Nagare-kun and Hoshio were, Nagare-kun being a playboy-type and Hoshio anything but.

"Oh, how do you know that? I'm dead and he isn't, so he can actually act on what he does."

Gai blinked. "Oi, oi. Please don't tell me you're some kind of pervert..."

"I don't play Peeping Tom. The Akatsuki family has more honor than that."

"So you would if you didn't have honor?"

Hoshio didn't answer, but a sly smile appeared on his face.

Gai fell over in exasperation. I laughed.

When Izumi-chan's performance came up, only for a second did my undivided attention go to her.

And then I saw the ukulele.

I moaned and slumped over the table. "Not this again...!!"

"Eh?" Gai asked as he turned to me. "What are you talking about, Ken?"

That's when Izumi-chan began to perform.

Gai cringed.

"Oh," he said painfully. After half a minute or so into her, um, 'singing', Gai sighed. "She may be beautiful, but she can't sing worth her life."

"W-we all have our flaws," I stammered.

Really, I didn't know what to think about Izumi-chan's performance, though I believe that nowadays she's purposely horrible to keep people from falling for her. After all, beauty plus beautiful singing often equals men falling heads over heels with that woman. But Izumi-chan has always been horrible playing the ukulele. I still haven't forgiven Takuya for teaching her how to play it.

"Still," Gai continued, "that doesn't stop her from having a wonderful personality."

Curiously, I turned to Gai, wondering what on Earth he could possibly mean by that. Yes, he was right. Just because that she was a horrible singer didn't mean that she was a horrible person, but like Hoshio said in response to that:

"A wonderful personality?" Hoshio asked, amused. "Sounds as if you're in love with her."

"That's not what I meant!"

"Yamada-san, I haven't seen anything more of her personality than her lunacy: punning, nonsense phrases, her cackling behavior."

Gai scowled. "There's more to her than that. I know there is. Her so-called 'lunacy' is just a barrier. I can tell. Through her eyes, I can see that she's suffering. It's there, and it's very obvious, and I can't believe that nobody else has noticed it before!"

Hoshio repeated, "Sounds like you're in love with her."

"It's crazy for a ghost to fall in love with a woman he never met," Gai snapped.

I narrowed my eyes and made a mental note to have a talk with Gai after the contest was over.

When the winner was announced some time later, Ruri-san winning but the Captain still holding her position, I told Gai to come over to the girls' room when he had the chance later that night. Well, by then, it was early morning, but that's really not the point. I didn't have to wait too long for him to arrive; he came before any of the three girls returned. He didn't know what was going on, so I decided to just bring it all before him before he formed any weird illusions.

"Tell me, Gai," I said slowly, "what are your true feelings for Izumi Maki?"

He blinked. "What?"

I glared at him. "Tell me. How do you feel about her?"

"I... er... where did this come from?"

"Just answer the question."

"Was it because of what Hoshio and I were talking about earlier?" I guess my scowl had affirmed it. Gai sighed. "Ken, just because I admit that a woman's beautiful and came to understand that woman doesn't mean I'm in love with her or anything like that. Don't jump to conclusions."

He turned to leave, but I called out to him, "You came to understand Izumi Maki?"

Gai looked at me over his shoulder. "Yes."

"How?"

My curiosity would not permit him to leave. He knew this, so he turned back around and took a seat at the table. He held his head over the table and sighed again.

"At first, I thought that she was just plain insane, but as I got to know her, she... she somehow reminded me of me. She and Hikaru... in a strange sort of way remind me of myself and Akito," he said quietly. I walked over and sat next to him so I could hear him better. "Nobody really understood me. Hoshio can confirm that much, especially after what had happened on the _Hinagiku_. But Akito was the only one who did, and he was the only one who would dare to befriend me.

"It seems to be the same way with Izumi and Hikaru. Nobody understands Izumi, nobody except for Hikaru. I can't say whether or not Ryoko does, but she is friends with Izumi, too, but..." Gai sighed. "I just know how Izumi feels, that's all."

I shook my head. "No, you don't." Gai lifted his head to meet my eyes. "You don't know. Izumi... Izumi-chan is suffering, more than I'm sure you ever had."

"What do you mean?"

"Did you know that she had two fiancées?"

Gai gaped. No, of course he didn't. He shook his head.

"One died to an unknown, ancient illness, the other was lost in the war... in an accident. Gai, I was her second fiancée and very good friends with her first."

"EH?!"

I smiled weakly. "Before her first fiancée, Takuya Nagasawa, died, he made me promise to keep Izumi-chan safe from harm from everybody and herself and to be there whenever she needed someone to hold her when she cried. He made me promise to continue loving her the way I had ever since we first met. He knew that I was in love with Izumi-chan, which was why he made me promise."

Gai's features turned grim. "Is that your purpose, then? You said that you were around for more than to just protect the woman you love. Is your purpose to uphold your promise to your friend?"

"There's more."

"More?"

I nodded. "My purpose isn't to keep my promise to Takuya, for I had already done so. I kept her safe, even after death, but that is not my purpose. I don't like breaking promises, but from time to time, I find that I have no choice.

"However, Izumi-chan was distraught when Takuya died. She got kicked out of school, which was why she ended up joining the military academy to become a pilot. She refused to eat, and it was only by my coaxing did she finally do so. Somehow, we always found ourselves in each other's arms, and one day, when that happened, something grew. Love.

"She was very happy and much more herself after that. She excelled well with her piloting skills, and she always had a smile on her face. A genuine smile, mind you, not the false, 'lunatic' one that everybody sees every passing hour of the day. We enjoyed each other's company all the time... until I got drafted. I made the mistake of proposing to her just before I left, otherwise, she would have only lost one fiancée and not two. And then I died. You already know how that happened.

"She gave up on love all together, and she's afraid of letting anyone get close to her heart. That is why she is the way she is. If she were to be her true self, she would surely fall in love again and get hurt because of it. But I have yet to lose hope," I concluded. "That is my purpose, Gai. To make sure that she does find another to love."

Gai turned away from me and remained speechless for a while. "I never knew..." he finally whispered.

"Nobody was, but you were right. Her puns are merely a shield, but through her eyes, you can tell that she's suffering."

"I didn't know she was suffering like this."

"Like I said, nobody knew. Nobody except for me."

"So... why did you tell me? I never asked to know, and even though I was wrong about me knowing how Izumi feels... losing two fiancées, I only lost my family... you didn't have to tell me."

"First of all," I snapped, "don't demote yourself like this. Losing an entire family is just as bad as losing two fiancées, maybe even more. How old were you when...?"

"Ten. I was about ten years old. Maybe younger. I was still in grade school, an older student, that's all I remember," said Gai. "But Ken, that's not the point. You came to understand me as well, just in death, and we've become close over the past, what? Two years?" I nodded. "I'm sure your friend was just as wonderful as you are. To lose someone like you... twice... would have been difficult. I say the same thing to you, Ken. Don't demote yourself. You were more important to Izumi than you are to me, and that's saying a lot."

"I feel flattered," I said with a coy smile. "You had an older brother, didn't you?"

Gai nodded. "Yeah. Tarou. My mother had a knack for giving Niichan and I such boring, common names. You remind me of Niichan, Ken."

"I figured that much."

"So... why did you tell me about you and Izumi and your friend?"

I ruffled his hair playfully. "Because like you see me as an older brother, I look at you as a younger one. And, in a way, you even remind me of Takuya. He was a huge _Gekigangar_ fan like yourself. That's why I trust you enough to tell you, and that's why... I'm afraid of losing you."

Gai sighed. "Maybe my real purpose would mean sticking around until Akito dies or something."

"Perhaps," I said. "But Gai... I will admit something to you right now. You said that you understood Izumi-chan, and you do. You really do. And if you never died, I'm sure you still would have."

"What are you getting at?"

"If you never died, Gai... it may take me a while to trust you and like you as much as I do now, but if you never died... you would be the one person I would trust with Izumi-chan's life than with any other man on this ship."

Gai just stared at me. "Ken..."

I smiled. "You may have even fallen in love with her if you had the chance to interact with her more, Jiro."

"But I would have died in the end, anyway, and she would never have given me a chance," Gai replied. "She wouldn't have given me a chance because I would die on her... and it would have been my fault that she could never love again."

"Have you ever heard that 'third's a charm'?"

"Yes, but that only happens in fictional stories. This is real life, Ken."

I nodded. "I know. But for now... let's try to figure out your purpose. That is our main priority."

Gai stared at his knees and didn't answer.

He probably knew that I was right.

When the operation against the _Kannazuki_ was over in which the Captain had a brilliant plan to outrun the ship, Hoshio had more than enough time to think over Gai's purpose, or lack thereof. It was a very long and painstaking operation, and I wished that somehow the three of us could get on the communication systems and talk. The Captain wouldn't allow for many communication systems to be open, so none of the pilots could converse unless the time came for them to do so. I was bored, Gai's excitement was building, and Hoshio had his Thinking Cap on.

The pilots all returned when the operation proved to be a success, and that was when Hoshio approached Gai and myself as we talked in the hangar about how brilliant the plan was.

"Hamaguchi-sama, Daigoji-san," Hoshio said quietly as he appeared next to us. "I think I may have a conclusion about Daigoji-san's reason for being around here still."

"You do?" asked Gai, looking somewhere between ecstatic and worried.

Hoshio nodded. "I don't think you have one."

With that came silence among the apparitions. The only noise that could be heard by us were the clanging of the mechanics inspecting the Aestivalis and securing them for future uses.

"What are you talking about?" I asked slowly.

"Think about it," Hoshio said as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. "Most of the time, spirits stay on the mortal plane because of their personal reasons, and it isn't an unconscious thought. I'm sure we all know what our own reasons are, except for Daigoji-san. We all thought that redeeming the admiral would be it, but it wasn't because, obviously, Daigoji-san is back."

"But Ken told me that all spirits had a reason for being around on the mortal plane," Gai protested. "We all have our own 'purposes'. This doesn't make any sense."

"You have a reason, but it isn't YOUR reason," said Hoshio. "It's someone else's."

"Eh?" Gai and I asked.

"Think about it," Hoshio repeated. "Whose cockpit does Daigoji-san go into whenever the pilots go into battle?"

I blinked. "Tenkawa-kun's, but I always figured that--"

"That it was because Daigoji-san knew only him of all the pilots when he was alive? Hamaguchi-sama, I always thought you were smarter than that," Hoshio said. "You always go into Maki-san's Aestivalis, and I am not incorrect when I say that she is the one who were in love with, am I right?"

I bit my lip, shocked that he knew, but realizing all the same that it would do me no good if I lied. So I nodded.

"And I always follow my little brother around," Hoshio said.

"So what exactly are you saying here?" Gai asked, losing his impatience. "So I end up following Akito into battle like a lost little puppy sometimes. No big deal. I can't think of anything in connection with Akito that would have me being around for his sake."

I looked at Hoshio. "So, forgiving Munetake wasn't Gai's purpose, was it?"

"I never said that."

"But it doesn't make sense--"

"Daigoji-san," said Hoshio as he turned towards named spirit, "you can't think up any conclusion as to why you would still follow Tenkawa-san around because it isn't YOUR reasons for being around. You feel drawn to him. Have you ever noticed any changes to Tenkawa-san since your death?"

Gai fell silent in thought, and for a while he said nothing at all. After the mechanics completed work on the last Aestivalis and half of them left for a short break, Gai finally nodded.

"I think I understand," he said quietly.

Hoshio wanly smiled. "You see what I mean?"

Gai nodded again.

I blinked in utter confusion, but out of my respect for Gai, I didn't ask. I wouldn't find out what Hoshio and Gai were talking about until after what would be known around the _Nadesico_ as the Ghost Incident and Other Abnormal Things.

There was a time just before your little sister came onboard the _Nadesico_ when everything just seemed to go absolutely haywire. The Y-Unit would countermand the orders given by Ruri-san while we were busy fending off the Jovian attacks, so after a while, the pilots had to go and fix it.

But things were going crazy even before that.

When the pilots docked into the hangar, I sighed and let Izumi-chan exit first. Ever since I met Gai, I would be the first to get off because always, always something happened that made me have to approach him as soon as I could. It was either yelling at him or asking him what the hell was going on, but this time, I had no problems. Sure, Tenkawa-kun boson-jumped and successfully attacked one of the ships--Gen Ichiro again?--and with the hints both Hoshio and Gai dropped about Gai's purpose, or lack thereof, I knew that Gai was just fine.

Or so I thought.

As I finally hopped out of the Aestivalis, Izumi-chan ran back in for something, I looked behind me and frowned, wondering what she was up to but decided that I probably wouldn't want to know. That was when Gai approached me, and here's the irony: he really did look like he just saw a ghost even though he's already dead.

"K-ken..." Gai stuttered nervously. "I... I think Izumi saw me."

I arched a brow. "Eh?"

Izumi-chan jumped out of the Aestivalis and ran to the other side of the hangar.

"What are you talking about?" I asked.

"Just what I mean," said Gai. "She SAW me. I'm sure she did. She said 'ghost' just before you came out of the robot."

"I didn't hear her."

"Lost in your own thoughts again," Gai muttered as-a-matter-of-factly.

I narrowed my eyes. "Hey, hey."

I turned back towards Izumi-chan, and she was playing some sort of role as a Shinto priestess, I think. If Gai was right--and he was, as I would discover later--then she performing an exorcism ritual. A fake one, obviously. Exorcisms only work for REAL poltergeists and REAL ghosts. It doesn't work on spirits, so obviously, Gai and I didn't vanish out of existence.

I sighed. "Gai, it's not the seventh of July yet. Last I checked, you still had another month or so to go before the anniversary of your death. How could she see you?"

"I don't know!" Gai protested. "But she did! I'm certain of it! Maybe the person who taught you everything didn't teach you EVERYTHING. Or maybe he didn't know everything, either. Because I really am sure that Izumi saw me."

I nodded slowly. "Right." I looked around the hangar. "Nobody else seems to notice us."

"Yes, but... but..."

"Or maybe you really ARE in love with Izumi-chan?"

"I AM NOT!"

I chuckled. "Whatever you say, Jiro, but believe me. I'm sure Izumi-chan was hallucinating out of stress or something. There is absolutely no way that she could have seen you, especially if it isn't Tanabata or your anniversary yet."

"That's what you think," Gai muttered spitefully as he walked away.

About a couple of minutes later, I caught Ryoko staring straight at me. I blinked and looked behind me to make sure that she was staring at something of interest there, but there was nothing. That's when I first considered that maybe Gai was right. Maybe... maybe the living CAN notice us now.

But it didn't make any sense, so I frowned and decided to seek out Gai and Hoshio. As I left the hangar, Ryoko and Hikaru both screamed, "GHOST!"

I spun back around, and they were pointing straight at me. Not where I was before when Ryoko was first staring at me, but where I was when they yelled it. They could see my every movement, but Uribatake was also looking my way.

"I don't see anything," he said.

But Ryoko and Hikaru just kept gaping. Izumi-chan kept chanting.

I decided to keep walking.

Maybe, I thought, maybe, just maybe Gai was right. But why couldn't Uribatake see us when Ryoko, Hikaru, and Izumi-chan apparently could?

I needed to find Gai and Hoshio right away.

I found them only about five minutes later on the bridge, laughing and chatting amiably. Ruri-san saw them; I could tell by the look in her eyes. What the hell was going on? If Izumi-chan and Ryoko and Hikaru and Ruri-san could see Gai and myself and most likely Hoshio as well, why couldn't anyone else? What was going on?

It had something to do with those select people--and Fressange-san, the other pilots, and the Captain--having their memories interconnect. If you ever reunite with Fressange-san, let me be there when she gives the explanation, all right?

Hoshio was the first to notice me enter.

"Hamaguchi-sama--"

"It is true, then," I said, "that they can see us?"

Gai sighed in his 'I told you so' manner, and Hoshio nodded.

The only thing I thought up to say were the brilliant words of, "Oh, I see."

It didn't help that Gai and Hoshio, too, had nothing else to say. No theories or anything like that, and I had a growing--completely incorrect--suspicion that they were doing so just because they were hiding Gai's "purpose" from me. My anger grew, but before I could act on it, luckily enough, Hory-san stood from his position and announced that he was going to give the pilots their new mission.

The three of us instantaneously knew that we had to find the pilots and help them along with whatever they had to put up with, but just as we took off towards the bridge's exit, I couldn't feel my legs or my arms or my torso.

And my world blacked out.

The next thing I knew, I was face-to-face with Izumi-chan in the middle of some corridor.

"Why are you here?" she asked quietly. I couldn't move, but I knew that she could see me. Somehow, my heart started to ache. I could see her, she could see me, I wanted to touch her, but I couldn't... she could see me...

And that's when my memories returned.

_"Ken, guess what? I got a girlfriend!"_

_"You, a girlfriend? The world really IS ending! Hey, world! Takuya Nagasawa has a girlfriend!"_

_"Hey! That's MY line, idiot!"_

_"Haha! So, who is this lucky girl?"_

_"Izumi Maki."_

She stared at me in disbelief, but then her features sobered.

_"Izumi-chan, I'd like you to meet my very best friend in the world, Kenichi Hamaguchi."_

_"You can call me Ken."_

_"Nice to meet you, Ken."_

"I see," she said slowly. "You've come to take me away."

_"Ken... I want you to promise me something..."_

_"You're talking like you're about to die."_

_"I am."_

_"But--"_

_"Promise me something. Promise me... well, first of all, I want you to promise me that you'll take Izumi-chan home. Get her some decent food, let her shower, and keep her away for a day or so."_

_"All right..."_

_"And when I die... promise me that you will take care of Izumi-chan."_

_"What? What do you--"_

_"You know exactly what I mean. I know that you're in love with Izumi-chan. I've always known that you were. If it weren't for me, the two of you would have been a match made in Heaven. I guess this is what this disease is all about."_

_"Don't talk like that! I'm nothing compared to you! Even Izumi-chan knows that!"_

_"Ken, you won't believe how wrong you are."_

"It's all right. I'm so tired."

_"How can I live, Ken? Takuya is gone... I can't live anymore. I can't stand it. I loved him so much."_

_"Izumi-chan..."_

_"But... you've known him longer. Your pain may be even greater."_

_"No. Izumi-chan, our pain... is the same... maybe yours more so."_

_"You're wrong, Ken. He's been your best friend ever since you can remember, and I've only known him for a short time. The least I can say is that you're right. Our pain is the same, but... I'm so sorry. I've been ignoring it, and you've been giving me so much attention since Takuya..."_

_"Izumi-chan..."_

_"I'm so sorry, Ken, for not realizing that you were going through the same thing. I'm so sorry for being so selfish..."_

"I can't love anybody else anymore anyway."

_"You've been drafted?"_

_"Yeah."_

_"I... see. I guess the military needs everybody they can get to Mars... but why not the people who are already in the military?"_

_"They're staying to defend Earth if the time ever comes."_

_"So they already know you're going to be defeated? Ken, don't go! Please!"_

_"I'm going to come back, Izumi-chan, whether the military likes it or not."_

_"Don't go making those sorts of promises."_

"Everybody just dies on me."

_"Before I leave, I have one question to ask you. W-will you marry me?"_

_"... yes! Yes, of course I will, Ken!"_

She reached her arms out to embrace me, and I urged to hug her back. It had been so long... so long since I've held her. I yearned to but again, before I knew what I was doing, I fell unconscious once again.

_"We've been hit!"_

_"Get the sick into the escape pods!"_

_"Izumi-chan... sayounara..."_

I awoke to Hoshio and Gai calling to me.

"Oi, Ken, wake up."

"Snap out of it, Hamaguchi-sama."

"H-hey, I think he's waking up. Hey, Ken, are you all right?"

I clenched my teeth and reached out, grabbing a red shirt who I assumed to be Gai's. I was leaning against something hard, my pillow being a white shoulder--I guessed that it was Hoshio's. I pulled Gai in closer and hissed:

"Don't call me 'Ken'."

"Eh?" Gai asked.

"Please," I muttered, my anger suddenly flowing out of my system. "Please... don't call me Ken. I can't... I can't stand it anymore... too much... like... Takuya... Izumi-chan..."

I fell into his chest and sobbed.

"I can't..."

"Oi, Ken... Kenichi," Gai whispered deliberately. He was quite taken aback, I'm sure, but that didn't stop him from embracing me as I wept.

The memories that had returned to me hit me so deeply. I had remembered everything that Takuya lost when he died to that disease the doctors claimed they couldn't cure. I had remembered everything Izumi-chan lost the first time her loved one died, and everything I had gained by it, only to lose it again by my own death.

How could I have been so foolish?

I must have said it, for Gai told me, "I-it wasn't your fault, Ken... ichi..."

"It was!" I protested. "It was my fault! It was completely my fault! If I had just been a little stronger, if I hadn't been such a fool and proposed prematurely... I can't... it was my fault... completely my fault... I'm so sorry... Takuya... Izumi-chan..."

Hoshio and Gai let me cry for a few moments more before Hoshio finally murmured, "I knew it. Daigoji-san was the only one who had a successful reunion."

I turned my head up and wiped my eyes with the sleeve of my shirt.

"What?" I asked.

I really wasn't joking when I said that Hoshio is the Fressange-san of the afterlife. He just doesn't go into as much detail as her.

"The three of us finally saw the three people we loved the most when we were alive as they saw us," said Hoshio. "Nagare-kun couldn't stand the sight of me anymore. I guess he still resents me for dying on him and having all of the responsibility be put on him. You came face-to-face with Maki-san, your ex-fiancée, am I correct?"

I nodded.

"And she left you this hysterical..."

"I'm not hysterical!"

Hoshio's features softened. "Hamaguchi-sama, please listen. We failed. It was our chance to get our reasons fulfilled, but we failed. However..."

He turned to Gai, and I looked up at him. A small smile played on his lips, but his eyes were melancholy.

"Gai," I whispered, "is this true? Did you really... but what was it?"

"We never told you, did we?" Gai said, giving me a very soft, caring look that I was never used to seeing from him. "I was still around on the mortal plane not for any reason of my own, but because Akito always refused to accept my death. He kept hanging on to my spirit by doing a number of things. He watches _Gekigangar 3_ as religiously as I used to. He named my _Gekigangar_ model after me. He keeps hanging on to all of these reminders of me, and since the attachment is so strong... I could never move on."

"So," I said, understanding, "with the reunion you two shared... you... finally..."

"Yes," said Gai, his grin growing wider, "I get to move on now. I don't know how much longer I have to stay on this ship, but I don't think it's much. He finally let go of me, Kenichi--"

I smiled. "No. Go ahead. Call me Ken."

Gai blinked. "Ken? But I thought--"

"It's fine. Really."

"All right... Ken..." Gai smiled again. "Akito finally let go of my spirit. He's living for himself now instead of both of us. And I get to move on."

Tears watered my eyes again, and I hugged him.

"I'm going to miss you."

"We'll see each other again, Ken. I hate making promises I can't keep, but I'll do everything within my power to make sure that this one is kept. Hoshio, too."

"Take care of yourself."

"I will. I promise that one as well. I will take care of myself for once."

I chuckled. "Forever, you moron."

"That's when he disappeared. Left. There were some more words exchanged, but I don't think you need to know about those.

"And that's... the end of that." I smile. "See? I can uphold most of my promises."

Tsukumo chuckles. "I didn't expect you to go in so much detail than you had--"

"Oh. But Kazama goes into greater detail with her tales, and I have a feeling that Hoshio does the same. Ask them for a story sometime, you'll see," I say, sighing. "Or just go ask Hoshio for HIS version on Gai, though it probably won't be as, er, 'pleasant' as mine..."

"I can't believe you told the story without me! You LIAR!" Kazama hisses as she approaches us. I cringe and smile as innocently as I possibly can.

"Well... you... weren't here..." I tell her. My grin falters a little. "And... Tsukumo really wanted to know... so... um... crap..."

"One to uphold your promises, eh?"

"I never promised you!" I snap. Kazama, never being one to stay falsely enraged for long, laughs.

"Oh, it's okay," she says. "I'll just ask Akatsuki-san for the story."

"Er..."

And speaking of the devil, that is when Hoshio decides to join our little party. If one could call it that. "Why is everyone so interested in Daigoji-san anyway?"

Kazama and I point to Tsukumo, and Tsukumo smiles coyly in response.

"He reminds me too much of him," I say but nothing more than that.

"Ken-chan says that Shiratori-kun and Daigoji-san are very similar, and Shiratori-kun is a rather interesting person, if I do say so myself," Kazama responds.

I hiss at her quietly, "KENICHI, Kazama. Not 'Ken-chan', but KENICHI!"

"Well, er, you see..." Tsukumo attempts to say but is caught off by Hoshio's sigh.

"Never mind," he mutters. Then he smiles wistfully. "Someday, Shiratori-san, Itsuki-san, you'll be able to hear the story from Daigoji-san himself. Someday, I'm sure, because anybody and everybody who had a close tie to the ship will be reunited, whether in fifty years or a million."

"You big sap," Kazama says with a laugh. Hoshio sighs again.

"And you wonder why Hamaguchi-sama doesn't want to tell you the story?"

Tsukumo turns to me and whispers, "I have another question about Daigoji-san..."

"Yeah?" I ask.

"How do you think the two of us would get along? Honest feelings."

I beam. "Like I said, he was a whole lot like you, except more obnoxious. It wouldn't be you, Tsukumo, who would have been annoyed by Gai, I think it would be more like Gai who would be more annoyed by you. But, of course, that's how it was for the both of us at first. I think you and Gai would have become the best of friends."

"I can't wait to meet him."

"Hopefully, you will end up waiting a long, long time."

_End_

Footnotes:

(1) - Kazama Itsuki is Seelie... when I watched episode 13 again and researched a little more, I found this out. I was going to use "Seelie" since that's what most fans refer to her as, but when it comes to the case of Hoshio, I needed a last name. ; (Thanks to Greg O'Sullivan for pointing out that her name is Kazama Itsuki, not Itsuki Kazamo!)

(2) - July 7th: Tanabata. See Part One footnotes.


End file.
